King's receives £1m grant for mental health centre

Independent charity the Wolfson Foundation is providing a grant of £1 million to King’s College London to create a new centre of care and research for children and young people’s mental health.

The Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People will bring together the world’s leading experts in clinical care and research from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM).

The centre will be a hub of world class research intended to have long-term impact through education, policy change and public engagement.

The building will be designed in such a way to support collaboration between clinicians and scientists, to help identify treatments that make “a real difference” to the lives of children, young people and their families.

The Wolfson Foundation’s grant will enable King’s to conduct research to identify mental health difficulties early and “transform the treatment and care of children and young people in the UK and across the globe,” the University said.

“This substantial grant from The Wolfson Foundation will help us provide an ideal home for our team of clinicians and researchers so they can really make an impact on the lives of children and young people into adulthood,” said Professor Ian Everall, executive dean of King’s IoPPN.

“This is a once in a generation opportunity to transform mental health care and research for children and young people in the UK and beyond,” added Professor Sir Robert Lechler, senior vice president/provost (Health) at King’s College London.