Change Makers

About the programme

Small changes in mental health services can make a big difference to people living with mental illness. Maudsley Charity, together with South London and Maudsley’s Listening into Action team developed Change Makers – a small grants programme for staff who have ideas that could make a difference to patients.

Maudsley Charity is making £125,000 available every year to award grants between £200 and £2,000 to South London and Maudsley staff, to get small projects off the ground on wards and in services, helping to improve access, outcomes or experience of people with mental illness.

Since 2022 we’ve awarded more than £213,860 to 154 projects to fund everything from physical improvements to break rooms, gardens and on wards, to therapeutic activities for inpatients and people in the community.

Priority areas

Projects should relate to one or more of the following areas:  

Culturally appropriate care

Projects that focus on encouraging and empowering people in their cultural identities, for example delivering a ‘Tree of Life’ programme to encourage people from diverse communities to reflect on their unique life journeys through the metaphor of a tree.

Improving patient well-being

Activities that help patients to feel happier and healthier that are separate from treatment for their specific mental illness e.g. gardening, art or mindfulness

Improving lived experience leadership and working with communities

Activities could include supporting a group of patients to take part in an activity or to volunteer, or it could be a project that provides leadership opportunities for people with lived experience.

Funding staff wellbeing to improve care

Projects that focus on the health and happiness of staff enabling them to deliver better care for people accessing services.  These projects must benefit multiple teams.

Eligibility

Chane Makers is open exclusively to staff of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. We welcome applications from all four boroughs and departments.

Deadlines

Applications open 3 times a year.

The next round will open in the summer of 2026, with decisions shared in the winter of 2026.

Further information

Detailed information and links to the application form can be found on MAUD, the South London and Maudsley intranet.

Success Stories

Psychology in Hostels Project
Grant amount £1,125

Many people with mental health issues are also impacted by homelessness. It can be common for someone to have severe mental health problems, histories of complex trauma and misuse drug and alcohol at the same time – making it very difficult to cope.

The Psychology in Hostels Project provides onsite psychological support for the homeless. They successfully applied for a Change Makers grant to provide mindfulness materials including colouring books, stress balls and postcards of nature to supplement their group and one-to-one wellbeing conversations. Service users shared that they’ve felt more motivated and better able to manage their own wellbeing with these resources that they can keep in their rooms and use on a day-to-day basis.

Art psychotherapy for patients with psychosis
Grant amount £421

Patients who are cared for on acute wards are those whose bouts of illness often start quickly and trigger distressing symptoms. After a period of inpatient care, it can be daunting to have to reintegrate into society.

This Change Makers grant funded the purchase of art materials and sensory kits for a 6-week art psychotherapy group set up at Bethlem Hospital. It was aimed at service users with experience of psychosis who have recently been released from acute care back into the community. The group helped service users to make social connections, improve self-esteem and wellbeing, discover creative skills and build confidence. All 6 attendees expressed the intention to continue making art to manage their wellbeing.

Empowering Parents Empowering Communities
Grant amount £1,250

Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC) is a popular parenting programme teaching parents a range of positive skills to better understand their children’s feelings, to communicate with them more effectively and build better, more resilient family relationships. Groups are led by trained and certified parent group leaders who are supported by specialist staff.

Change Makers funding was used to run two wellbeing and self-care workshops for parent group leaders, staff and students on placement. Activities included mindfulness exercises that could be used indoors and out in nature, as well as drawing and journaling. Attendees said it increased their sense of belonging and of feeling appreciated and gave them ideas of new activities to use in the groups they lead.