Building Brighter Futures
Building Brighter Futures funds work to improve the mental health of children and young people aged 10-19 years old who are living in the most challenging circumstances and who face complex difficulties.
An alarming number of children and young people are experiencing difficulties with their mental health. Certain groups of children and young people are particularly vulnerable. Receiving early and appropriate care can positively impact the course of their lives. While there is no easy fix to the current situation, innovative solutions and better collaboration can help build a brighter future for generations to come.
Key information
Total commitment: £10m over 5 years. £7.9 million has been allocated so far.
Age range and focus: 10-19 year olds, living in Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham and Croydon.
Funded projects so far: 11 projects were funded, involving approximately 50 organisations.
Aimed at: Integrated care organisations and partnerships, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London, voluntary and community organisations, schools, colleges and alternative provisions.
Key dates: Expressions of Interest: September 2024, Full applications: April 2025, Decisions made: July 2025.
Grant sizes awarded: We offered a grant for project development for up to £15,000 at Expression of Interest stage. At Full Application stage, we expected most grants to be £300,000-£500,000, but were open to grants for up to £1 million.
Why we developed the programme
Maudsley Charity committed £10 million over 5 years to fund work that improves the mental health of children and young people who are living in the most challenging circumstances and who face complex difficulties. Projects focussed on 10–19-year-olds experiencing emerging and developing mental health difficulties and affected by at least one of the following risk factors:
- Living in deprivation
- Vulnerable family circumstances
- Impacted by racism and/or discrimination
- Neurodiversity or learning disabilities
- Substance use
We drew on data, the views of children and young people, and insights from a range of professionals. They highlighted these factors as key risks for significant mental health difficulties that affect young people into adulthood, and reduce the likelihood of getting the right care at the right time.
We encourage applicants to respond to more than one risk factor, understanding that multiple forms of disadvantage often combine to worsen children and young people’s mental health. They did not need to focus on all five risk factors.
It was important that applicants to Building Brighter Futures use a co-production approach. Proposals should be shaped from the start with the significant involvement of children and young people, their families or carers, the wider community and the varied professionals who support them.
We strongly encouraged proposals to involve a mix of organisations. Our research showed that more collaboration is needed to bring innovative thinking and effective approaches to respond to multiple risk factors and address complex problems. We were open to different collaborations and partnerships, but would not exclude applications from single organisations.
We expected that successful co-developed proposals would offer fresh perspectives on how to best support children and young people with emerging and developing mental health difficulties who are most failed by current models of care and support.
We understood that it takes time and resources to engage children and young people, their families and carers, and to develop partnership proposals, so we offered an optional development grant to support co-production.
Funded projects
Learn more about the 11 projects involving 50 key delivery organisations that have been funded under the full rollout of the Building Brighter Futures programme.
Funding awarded: £988,037
Project duration: 36 months
Borough served: Southwark
Organisations: Active Communities Network in partnership with Bethwin Road Neighbourhood Playground Association, Theatre Peckham, Southwark Young Advisors, Fight for Change Foundation, Mentivity, St Giles Trust, Millwall in the Community and the Family Partnerships Team at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Beneficiaries: Children aged 10-12 living in Walworth and Camberwell Children and young people aged 13-16 living in the Old Kent Road and Elephant and Castle community. Young adults aged 16-19 living in Peckham and Nunhead.
Project aim:
Using positive activities including sport, creative arts, peer mentoring, social action and volunteering to empower young people, the project aims to reduce the number of children and young people in Southwark that need clinical mental health support and reduce pressure on CAMHS and hospitals, while demonstrating that impact on mental health also positively impacts on the youth justice system, reducing youth violence and its consequences.
It will also work to strengthen the evidence base of prevention/early intervention programming and demonstrate that the voluntary and community sector is a viable option for future commissioning and bringing grassroots groups’ knowledge to decisions with the health system.
Funding awarded: £998,999
Project duration: 36 months
Boroughs served: Lambeth, Southwark Lewisham and Croydon
Organisations: The Well Centre in partnership with CAMHS Digital Lab, with primary care networks, Oasis Foundation Trust and CAMHS clinical leads at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Beneficiaries: Children and young people living in areas of deprivation and groups with traditionally poorer access to services.
Project goal / idea: To improve access to timely mental wellbeing support through the Well Centre’s integrated care model, reducing mental health disorder onset for children and young people with emerging difficulties and reducing health inequalities. Through a service that starts with the young person’s own assessment of their needs, in their own community, with professionals they trust, the project has the potential to reduce waiting lists and introduce a newer, more flexible and dynamic response that allows them a longer-term relationship with services. It also aims work with commissioners and providers to create a more coordinated approach to young people who are currently not getting the support they need.
Funding awarded: £934,729
Project duration: 35 months
Boroughs served: Lambeth, Southwark Lewisham and Croydon
Organisations: Raw Material Music & Media Education in partnership with Empowering Communities, Empowering Parents (EPEC) team and DISCOVER team at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London Arts & Health and Tony Cealy
Beneficiaries: Children and young people aged 11-19 and their parents/carers from communities representing the Global Majority
Project goal / idea: To provide an accessible, engaging, effective and holistic programme for children and young people through a new partnership between experienced community-based creative healthcare practitioners and NHS services. Solutions will explore a range of co-produced traditional to experimental creative health interventions for young people and their parents/carers, broadening understanding and knowledge in families around mental health to empower and support their emotional wellbeing. Participants will be supported to direct their own pathways from activities from a menu of courses suited to their needs and interests in a social prescribing, person-centred model, enabling the referral and support pathway to be as relevant as possible.
Funding awarded: £582,426
Project duration: 30 months
Boroughs served: Croydon, Lambeth
Organisations: King’s College London in partnership with South London Listens, Christian International Peace Service (CHIPS), I AM IN ME, Juvenis, Reaching Higher and with CAMHS Digital Lab (King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust)
Beneficiaries: 16-19-year-olds with emerging depression and/or anxiety
Project goal / idea: EarlyBIRDS aims to co-design, implement, and evaluate a suite of three single-session interventions for 16-19-year-olds with emerging signs of depression and/or anxiety. The interventions will be accessed online and supported by a trained youth worker. This will provide rapid, evidence-based psychological help for children and young people in familiar community settings. The combination of a highly efficient delivery system, locally adapted content (with the support from community organisations), and a trusted relationship, has the potential to overcome barriers for young people living in challenging circumstances across South London who otherwise may not receive any support.
Funding awarded: £337,280
Project duration: 36 months
Boroughs served: Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham
Organisations: The Salmon Youth Centre and Southwark CAMHS at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Beneficiaries: 10-19 year olds from areas of predominantly high social deprivation who are navigating critical transition points and are previously unknown to statutory health providers
Project goal / idea: To scale and adapt The Salmon Youth Centre in partnership with The Nest (Groundwork) Be Kind To Your Mind project embedding protective and preventative mechanisms in an environment already accessed by young people to ensure wide access and participation. It also aims to increase children and young people’s self-care through approaches that respond to their definitions of mental health and empowering them to advocate on their own behalf; improve access to and engagement by young people with mental health referral networks in both statutory and non-statutory settings; enhance health services’ ability to penetrate hard-to-reach communities through partnerships and information sharing; grow the community’s capacity and knowledge about what works; and empower children and young people with the tools and experiences they need to be happier, healthier and more hopeful for their futures.
Funding awarded: £994,168
Project duration: 36 months
Borough served: Croydon
Organisations: Croydon Voluntary Action in partnership with Mind in Croydon, Off the Record, Croydon Drop in, Be Inspired, Palace for Life Foundation, Reaching Higher, Reedham Children’s Trust, and Croydon CAMHS at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Beneficiaries: 10–19-year-olds with emerging and developing mental health difficulties living in Croydon
Project goal / idea: To improve the entry point of the mental health system by partnering with children and young people on a project that delivers from the start by listening hard, responding quickly, building trust and connecting them to activities that are right for them. The project will assemble a rapid response team with a difference – one that never subjects young people to waiting lists or repeat referrals, but welcomes them into a support-system backed by mentors they trust and activities run by people who share their interests. Activities are based on the evidence of what works for children and young people, supporting them through trauma into the right support systems and onto pathways leading to better health, training opportunities and the right career choices.
Funding awarded: £674,591
Project duration: 36 months
Boroughs served: Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Croydon
Organisations: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (Lewisham CAMHS, Symbol Team) in partnership with Breathe Arts Health Research and London Borough of Lewisham (Social Services)
Beneficiaries: Children in care aged 10–18 who are known to Lewisham CAMHS. Foster carers of participating children in care. Care-experienced young people aged 17+ who will be Young Ambassadors. Later in the project, children in care aged 10–18 from across South London who are not yet known Lewisham CAMHS
Project goal / idea: To improve mental health outcomes for children in care and improve their engagement with therapy services, developing a new, more creative and inclusive approach to therapy for young people, their carers, and future generations. Activities include custom-made creative workshops for children in care, CAMHS practitioners, foster carers, and social workers which carefully targets mental health needs and engagement challenges, involving magic, song writing and singing. There will also be a research study to analyse the impact of this new delivery model and make it available for more young people in the future.
Funding awarded: £653,697
Project duration: 36 months
Boroughs served: Croydon
Organisations: Harris Federation (4 schools) in partnership with King’s College London and CAMHS (Maudsley Education Consultation Service) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Beneficiaries: Students across four Harris secondary academies in Croydon, with a focus on students transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7 with emotionally based school avoidance.
Project goal / idea: To address the needs of the children and young people within four Harris secondary academies through early identification of students with or at risk of persistent absence with heightened anxiety symptoms as they transition from primary to secondary school and provision of proactive support. Attendance Mentors will work with families/parents/carers in Year 7, assess for emotionally based school avoidance, provide targeted mental health support, and strengthen communication between schools and families. Families/parents/carers will be equipped with strategies to manage mental health challenges and improve school attendance. The project also aims to bring about systemic change within school to create an environment that supports attendance for children and young people with emerging mental ill-health and/or neurodivergence (adaption of RE-STAR programme).
Funding awarded: £554,570
Project duration: 36 months
Boroughs served: Southwark, Lambeth
Organisations: MindSpark CIC in partnership with Parent Skills 2 Go, Parent Action (part of Citizens UK), 3 schools, The Mentoring Lab, Spring Community Hub, Community Southwark and Helping Families team at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Beneficiaries: Children and young people aged 10-19 living in Southwark and Lambeth and their parents/carers
Project goal / idea: To help young people from marginalised groups (those facing racism, discrimination, poverty, or trauma) feel more in control of their thoughts, emotions, and motivation, improving their mental well-being. Through extending the Meta-Skills executive function coaching and My Child and Me programmes together, the project aims to break down the stigma of discussing mental health in marginalised communities by supporting parents and carers and helping them understand how to support their child’s mental health and access the right support. In partnership with communities, schools and traditional mental health services, it aims to build collaborative relationships that work together to improve children’s mental health.
Funding awarded: £514,445
Project duration: 37 months
Borough served: Lewisham
Organisations: The Albany in partnership with 2 schools, London Borough of Lewisham (Youth Services), Goldsmiths University and Lewisham CAMHS at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Beneficiaries: Children and young people aged 10-19, especially boys and girls from Black backgrounds and those from poorer backgrounds around Deptford and New Cross
Project goal / idea: To provide young people in Lewisham with the tools, vocabulary and support networks they need to shift negative preconceptions of mental health and help-seeking, by establishing support networks for life through music making and lyricism. REZON8 & Come As You Are (CAYA) are born specifically from a community of young people from the Global Majority. The project will build and scale REZON8 to increase health literacy for participants, and create a two-way trusted pathway between project staff, young people and statutory provision. Activities will include using music and lyricism to support reflection, improve emotional literacy, and develop mechanisms for self-expression; supporting Young Leaders/Change Makers as co-design and consultation leads; training and development of community facilitators to support young people facing mental health challenges and quickly identify someone who may need urgent support.
Funding awarded: £283,489
Project duration: 41 months
Borough served: Southwark
Organisations: In Your Corner in partnership with Anna Freud AMBIT team, London Borough of Southwark and Southwark CAMHS (CareLink team) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Beneficiaries: 12–15-year-olds and this project will extend to young people aged 16+ who are transitioning to adulthood, particularly care leavers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people
Project goal / idea: Connect is an established partnership with London Community Boxing, offering psychological group intervention that combines non-contact boxing with evidence-based psychology. Connect will be expanded by continuing their core 12–15-year-old programme; developing a tailored programme for 17–19-year-olds; creating a Peer Mentoring pathway where 16+ youth mentor younger participants (age 12 -15); and establishing specialised support for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (focusing on trauma, PTSD, and local community connection)
The project aims for young people to develop emotion regulation skills and personal resources for managing challenges; increase physical activity and health through sustained sport engagement; build positive peer relationships and social confidence; foster community connection and resilience; and provide pathways for skills development and sustained engagement.
Programme design
The Programme was open to projects that:
- Focus on children and young people aged 10–19 experiencing emerging and developing mental health difficulties and affected by at least one of the following risk factors:
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- Living in deprivation
- Vulnerable family circumstances
- Impacted by racism and/or discrimination
- Neurodiversity or learning disabilities
- Substance use
- Commit to co-production and collaboration
- Develop, adapt or scale innovative and effective approaches
- Demonstrate benefit in one of more of the boroughs served by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust: Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Croydon.
Who was eligible to apply?
The following organisations were eligible to apply as the lead applicant:
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- Integrated care organisations and partnerships, for example:
- Integrated Care Board of southeast London (for projects across Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark)
- Integrated Care Board of southwest London (for projects in Croydon)
- Local Care Partnerships: Lambeth Together, Lewisham Health and Care Partnership, Partnership Southwark, One Croydon Health and Care Partnership
- Primary Care Networks across Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Croydon
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (including CAMHS and CAMHS/adult collaborations)
- King’s College London / Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
- Local voluntary or community sector organisations based in Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Croydon
- National voluntary or community sector organisations who work in or who are interested in working in our four boroughs, including in partnership with local voluntary or community sector organisations
- Schools, colleges and alternative provisions
- Integrated care organisations and partnerships, for example:
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Preferred involvement
We preferred applications to involve South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in some capacity – to establish better connections across the mental healthcare system, support appropriate access to mental health services; and explore innovative approaches to mental health support to address intense and growing demand. The involvement might range from the Trust being the lead applicant, to a partner applicant, to a lighter touch advisory role.
We are also interested in applications involving:
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- Voluntary and community sector organisations to connect and develop trust with communities and harness the assets, knowledge and skills in communities.
- Researchers to capture learning, evidence and measure impact.
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Any proposals from current and past grant holders of Maudsley Charity should demonstrate new approaches and significant adaptation based on learning and evidence captured.
Selection criteria
At each stage of the application process, after ensuring that applications met the eligibility requirements, proposals will be reviewed against the following selection criteria:
- Potential for impact
- Evaluation and learning
- Based on knowledge and evidence
- Demonstrating the connection to the wider support and care system
- Delivery and management
We understood that an EOI was an outline of the project idea and that it would be explored further, gathering more evidence in the development stage.
Programme timeline
Connection workshops
To support applicants, the programme ran four Connection Workshops in June and July 2024 in each of the four boroughs we serve; Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Croydon. Attendance was not mandatory.
These workshops were open to people from across the mental health sector, primary care, local authorities and the local and national voluntary and community sector. They aimed to raise awareness of the Building Brighter Futures programme, build connections across organisations, and encourage fresh, collective thinking on problems and solutions.
We aimed for a good mix of different stakeholders at these workshops. Ideally organisations should attend the workshop in the borough they are working in or would like to work in. However, this is not essential if they work across multiple boroughs.
Stage 1: Expressions of Interest with a Development Grant
Optional Development Grants
As part of preparing an Expression of Interest (EOI), organisations applied for a development grant if they required funds to co-produce a full application. We expected development grants to be in the region of £5,000-£15,000, depending on the proposal scope.
We funded costs including expenses (e.g. contribution towards time and travel) so organisations can engage with children and young people and their families/carers, room hire and refreshments, contribution to salaries (e.g. for VCS colleagues to attend meetings) and consultancy fees.
These grants were designed to help connect with relevant and diverse voices: with children and young people and their families/carers, the wider community and the varied professionals who support them. Applicants should ensure that their input is used to define the problem the work is seeking to address as well as the proposed approach.
Co-production
We understand that it takes time and resources to partner with others and to meaningfully involve children and young people, their families and carers in developing a project idea. We provided a lengthy period for co-production activities before the deadline for the full application. Depending on when you plan to submit, there could be 5-6 months to carry out co-production work.
Expert coaching on co-production
Organisations had the option to attend a workshop session on their proposed approach to co-production. This would cover core principles they could apply across the course of the project or focus on different considerations of co-production that were relevant to the project.
Monitoring and evaluation training
Organisations had the option to attend a theory of change workshop and a project-focussed monitoring, evaluation and learning session.
Advice and information
The Charity’s programme team was available to answer questions, give advice and help make connections with other organisations where possible.
Successful EOI applicants were then invited to make a full application.
Stage 2: Full application
We expected most proposals to be for grants of £300,000-£500,000, but were open to applications for up to £1 million in exceptional cases where a project proposal reflects greater ambition, scale or complexity.
We expected that most of the projects we fund will be delivered over 2-3 years, but would consider 4-year project proposals. We were very unlikely to fund projects that lasted less than 18 months.
Pilot phase: Exploratory projects
As part of our development of Building Brighter Futures, we started with a learning phase to explore how community organsisations could partner with the NHS. Three projects received approximately £75,000 each to expand the delivery of their existing services by exploring collaboration with and creation of pathways into CAMHS.
Partners: Croydon Drop-In and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Total funding awarded: £75,000
Accessing mental health support at an early stage vastly reduces the likelihood of existing problems escalating further, but not all young people are equally likely to be able to do so. In particular, Black, mixed Black, Asian and young people from other minoritised groups do not access statutory CAMHS services in numbers that reflect the population distribution. This group of young people are typically suspicious of many statutory services, while cultural stigma around mental health means they are less likely to seek support from their family GP.
The Croydon Talkbus Safe Space is a mobile youth information and advice centre operated by Croydon Drop-In, an established youth counselling service that is deeply embedded in, and trusted by, the local community. The Talkbus service offers a safe, low-pressure space in which young people from underserved groups can engage with outreach workers. It has a proven track record of encouraging young people from these communities to seek mental health-related help and support in a variety of community settings.
Our funding will support Talkbus to expand its geographic reach and extend its operating hours from three to five days per week, so that more young people can access specialist services.
Partners: North Lewisham Primary Care Network, Metro, South East London Integrated Care System, and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Total funding awarded: £74,503
Lewisham GPs have reported seeing increasing levels of distress and poor emotional health amongst Lewisham young people, particularly within the 11-19 age group. These GPs have also identified a lack of opportunities for onward referral or for ongoing emotional and mental health support, which is vital for preventing the escalation of mild-to-moderate problems.
The Mulberry Hub offers walk-in physical and mental health services to young people aged 13-25 in North Lewisham. It was launched in 2022 as part of Lewisham’s Transformation Plan for Children and Young People and is managed by a multi-agency partnership led by Metro, an equality and diversity charity providing health, community and youth services.
A recent evaluation report showed that The Mulberry Hub has been successful in attracting and engaging young people, including those from Black and minoritised communities, but that additional support is needed to address the demand and to accept more referrals. This funding will pay for an additional part-time IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) worker for the Hub’s ‘risk and resilience’ project, which aims to encourage access by young people who would be hesitant to approach regular GP or mental health services.
Partners: Black Thrive, Lambeth primary schools and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Total funding awarded: £74,972
Mental Health in Schools Teams (MHSTs) support school communities to develop a holistic approach to mental health and wellbeing. However, evaluations of MHSTs have shown that some children and young people are less likely to access support – especially those who are autistic or have learning difficulties and who are also from a non-white ethnic background.
This project will help MHSTs in Lambeth gain a better understanding and appreciation of what these children and young people and/or their parents/carers want and need from services, while also providing training for school staff around the early identification of mental health needs in autistic children and young people, and those from Black and minoritised backgrounds. The project will also explore the benefits of creating new resources and tools for this group, compared with the benefits of adapting existing resources to better suit their unique needs.
Participation and co-development will be at the core of all activities throughout this project, with each of the delivery partners working closely with local authorities, MHST partner schools, parents and carers, and of course with the children and young people themselves.
Learning and evaluation
To maximise learning across the portfolio and strengthen the evidence generated, we tendered for a Learning and Evaluation Partner. The King’s Fund and Centre for Mental Health were selected to work in partnership to maximise learning across the programme, strengthen the evidence generated and identify mechanisms for sharing that learning more widely.
Resources
Theory of change for Building Brighter Futures (47KB, PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Programme (33KB, DOCX).