Living Well with Psychosis – Research and Services
The Living Well with Psychosis programme supports work that focuses on people affected by psychosis, including those living with diagnoses like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder.
Key information
Funding call: Living Well With Psychosis – Research and Services
Summary: The Living Well with Psychosis programme supports work that focuses on people affected by psychosis, including those living with diagnoses like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder.
Amount available: We have approximately £3m available. We do not expect to fund projects of less than £150,000. There is no maximum, but applicants should consider the total funding available when considering the size of their bid.
Aimed at: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London.
Key dates: The programme will be open for submissions on 24th March 2025 and the deadline for Expressions of Interest is 11am (BST) 6th June 2025.
About the funding call:
The Living Well with Psychosis programme funds initiatives and research to improve the treatment and support the recovery of people affected by psychosis. We also have a focus on work that supports families and carers, and addresses inequalities in the experiences of racialised communities with mental health services.
We will fund work that results in:
- Experimentation, pilots, and innovation in care and research
- Influencing system-wide improvements in understanding and meeting the needs of people who are affected by psychosis
In previous rounds we awarded over £6m to work that advances improvements in the experience of care for people with psychosis. We are re-opening the funding call with some adjustments to fund up to a further £3m.
We have used learning from the previous stages of the programme to update the funding call to support the most effective change. This is likely to be the last open call in this programme for South London and Maudsley and King’s College London applicants, though we may give continuation funding or further direct funding to address specific gaps.
Eligibility
Who can apply?
We will only accept applications from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College London. Research projects that include work based at South London and Maudsley must show evidence at Expression of Interest stage that the appropriate teams and individuals at the Trust have bought into the work and are actively engaged in a partnership. We prefer these projects to be joint proposals with South London and Maudsley but recognise this may not be appropriate in some cases.
Projects funded in earlier rounds of the programme can apply for continuation funding and will be assessed again against the same criteria and in comparison with new submissions.
Additional mandatory eligibility requirements
- Applications must be endorsed by the appropriate senior leadership representative
- Applications should primarily benefit people affected by psychosis
- Applications should demonstrate that appropriate governance arrangements to cover safeguarding, risk management and ethical approval are in place
- Applications must not be solely focussed on extending existing activities. Proposed projects must either progress a new piece of work that can generate genuinely new learning or create a new way of delivering existing work to enhance or extend impact.
All bids must correspond with at least one of our updated 8 Areas of Interest:
- People affected by psychosis have a greater voice and influence over their own care
- Increased access to and engagement with high-quality personalised and effective therapy and medication
- Increased access to and engagement with high-quality, culturally appropriate peer and family support, information, and advice
- Address the impact of racism and discrimination on access to appropriate care at the right time
- People affected by psychosis have a better experience of crisis
- Better use of data to understand risk and target care
- Improved opportunities for employment and volunteering for people affected by psychosis
- Sustainable and measurable improvements to the physical health of people affected by psychosis
Changes to the 8 Areas of Interest
In our first round of funding we awarded three grants that focus on the intersection between cannabis and psychosis. We feel this is a sufficient proportion of the funding and want to create opportunities for other areas of interest.
We have added physical health projects in this round. Any applications in this area must be new work that goes beyond measurement of people’s current health to propose initiatives that create sustainable and measurable improvements in physical health.
Selection criteria
We will be using the following selection and evaluation criteria for all bids:
Delivery: Proposals must have a clear plan and detailed budget demonstrating what the need is and how activity responds to the need, with a strong, appropriately experienced team in place.
Inclusion: Projects must have a suitable and proportionate approach to involving people with lived experience and/or carers in their design and delivery.
Impact: Proposals must provide evidence and knowledge of the issues they are seeking to address. They must show potential to improve outcomes for people affected by psychosis. Proposals must show the project can have either systematic impact that affects a larger group of people or a disproportionate impact on a smaller group of people. This funding call is not for projects to expand existing work.
Learning: Proposals should demonstrate that the teams involved have a strong approach to monitoring, evaluation and sharing learning built into the project plan at all stages.
Application process and timeline
The programme will open for submissions on 24th March 2025 with a deadline of 6th June 2025. The process will be as follows:
Stage 1 – Book a conversation with the programme manager
Stage 2 – Get appropriate sign-off within your organisation
Stage 3 – Submit an Expression of Interest
Stage 4 – Internal and external reviews of your bid and feedback from the Maudsley Charity team
Stage 5 – Submit an application
Stage 6 – Further reviews of the bid, feedback from the Maudsley Charity team
Stage 7 – If recommended, bid approved by trustees
We expect to inform projects by the end of July of progression from Expression of Interest to the full application stage. The deadline for submission of full applications will be late September. Governance meetings where bids are approved for funding are scheduled for: October 2025, November 2025, January 2026 and March 2026.
Pre-submission engagement
- South London and Maudsley staff must have discussed their bids with the following personnel before submitting an Expression of Interest: their budget holder and the Psychosis CAG Director.
- King’s College London staff must have discussed their bids with the following personnel before submitting an Expression of Interest: Head of Department, the Grants Office and the Psychosis CAG director.
Expression of Interest form
You need to be registered on SmartSimple to apply. SmartSimple is our grant management platform. To apply, visit SmartSimple, log in and select Living Well with Psychosis.
If you need to register, visit SmartSimple, click on the ‘Register here as applicant’ button and enter your details.
You can read the questions asked in the LWWP Template EOI March 2025 Final (DOCX, 38KB) ahead of registering and applying.
Expressions of Interest must be submitted by 11am (BST) on 6th June 2025. We will not accept late submissions.
How to write a good bid
Keep your bids clear, concise and understandable for someone outside your team.
Be realistic about the number of activities being proposed within one project.
Answer all the questions fully, taking into account we are not based at South London and Maudsley or King’s College London, so need the specifics described.
Avoid jargon and acronyms as this may impact our ability to fully understand your proposal.
Include the appropriate level of overheads and consider any necessary project management costs. You can read the Maudsley Charity Overheads Policy (PDF, 163KB).
Learn more about the projects we have funded under this programme
Lead: Matthew Richardson, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, South London and Maudsley
Total funding awarded: £42,500
In the UK, the highest reported rates of psychotic disorders are among Black ethnic groups. In the boroughs served by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, while Black men with psychosis are over-represented on psychiatric inpatient wards, they are under-represented in accessing psychological therapy sessions in community mental health services.
As part of continued funding, this project continues to work to improve the accessibility of psychological therapies for Black men with a diagnosis of psychosis. Over the past year they have developed a reporting dashboard, conducted qualitative research to hear from their patients, and piloted a novel culturally appropriate intervention, leading to development for creating a safe social space for Black men within their sites to develop trust with the community.
Lead: Claire Henderson, Consultant Psychiatrist, Clinical Professor, King’s College London
Total funding awarded: £2,610,526
Racial inequalities in healthcare have serious consequences for Black people, who experience higher rates of mental ill health but lower treatment rates than White people (6% compared with 13%).
Advanced Choice Documents (ACDs) aim to reduce these inequalities for Black people previously detained under the Mental Health Act by improving access to care, experiences and outcomes. Over the next two years, ACD implementation (ACDI) aims to be rolled out across SLaM’s adult and child and adolescent mental health services, with the framework available for national adoption by other trusts.
Lead: Kiran Virk, Head of Broadcast and Live Delivery, South London and Maudsley
Total funding awarded: £299,750
Within our healthcare system, stigma around supporting people with severe mental illness (SMI) and psychosis into employment still exists.
This programme aims to drive cultural change across services, helping people with SMI access employment, volunteering, long-term study and work placements. Through research and collaboration with clinical crisis teams, inpatient, community services and IPS teams, it will shape training, policy and practice to improve opportunities and outcomes for people living with psychosis.
Lead: Imogen Hooper, Clinical Team Lead, South London and Maudsley
Total funding awarded: £173,257
Research shows that 1 in 7 patients within Lambeth Early Intervention Community Team use methamphetamines, up from 1 in 10 in March 2023. Of those using methamphetamines, 70% have 1 or more additional long-term conditions, exacerbated psychotic symptoms and are more likely to relapse.
This project aims to develop an internal methamphetamine dual diagnosis pathway to provide support to improve treatment outcomes in early intervention clients. This will be achieved through 1:1 and group support led by peer support worker and a dual diagnosis practitioner to reduce methamphetamine use, associated psychosis and promote physical health outcomes.
Leads: Edward Chesney, Academic Clinical Lecturer, King’s College London
Total funding awarded: £191,424
Research has found that many cases of psychosis in South London are triggered by cannabis withdrawal. A sudden stop of cannabis usage may cause withdrawal symptoms such as insomnia.
This project aims to develop guidelines for patients and clinicians on how to reduce cannabis use safely, complete the first systematic study of cannabis-withdrawal induced psychosis and explore how objective tests (i.e. urine, blood, saliva, and breath) and a novel rating scale can be used to confirm acute cannabis withdrawal.
Lead: Joanna Gibbons, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, South London and Maudsley
Total funding awarded: £1,362,454
The Think Family agenda recognises that challenges within families can impact the development and wellbeing of children and young people, highlighting the need for integrated support across CAMHS and Adult Mental Health services to improve family wellbeing and reduce the intergenerational transmission of mental illness.
Through this project, the Helping Families Team (HFT) will work with SLaM Early Intervention Psychosis Teams, the Lived Experience Network (LEN), parents with experience of psychosis, and young people affected by parental mental illness. Together, they will strengthen integrated care, empower parents, and build family resilience to help prevent the cycle of mental health difficulties across generations.
Lead: Marta Di Forti, Clinical Reader in Psychosis Studies at King’s College London
Total funding awarded: £535,126
Cannabis use is the most preventable risk factor for poor outcomes in people with psychosis. Young adults who continue to use cannabis are three times more likely to relapse and require compulsory or intensive inpatient care.
The Cannabis Clinic for Patients with Psychosis (CCP), initially funded by Maudsley Charity and now supported by both the Charity and SLaM, provides tailored support to help people reduce or stop cannabis use. Working with a focus group of young adults with psychosis and cannabis use disorder, we propose an ethical clinical trial to evaluate the CCP’s effectiveness while ensuring all referred patients continue to receive the intervention.
Lead: Fiona Gaughran, Professor of Physical Health and Clinical Therapeutics, Kings College London
Total funding awarded: £197,558
Late diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder (BP) is common in psychosis pathways, 9.5 years delay on average, meaning people are less promptly offered the right treatment and care.
This project aims to improve detection and access to evidence-based care for people with BP in psychosis pathways in SLaM, partnering with people with lived experience to institute screening for BP in psychosis pathways. Support accurate diagnosis, set and implement care standards for pharmacological and psychological BD management.
Lead: Maria Antonietta Nettis, Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Research Fellow, South London and Maudsley
Total funding awarded: £330,572
Menopause can exacerbate psychiatric symptoms in women living with psychosis and negatively affect their overall health and wellbeing. Despite this, menopause is rarely assessed or actively managed within mental health services.
This project aims to improve the experience of menopause for more than 900 women of menopausal age with psychosis across SLaM. It will also support the clinicians delivering their care by embedding menopause assessment and treatment into routine mental health practice, promoting a more integrated and holistic approach to care.
Lead: Toby Pilinger, Reader in Translational Psychiatry at King’s College London
Total funding awarded: £1,570,853
People with psychosis die 20-years prematurely, mainly due to obesity-related illnesses. Although 73% of SLaM patients with psychosis live with obesity/excess weight, less than 1% of them can access existing weight-management services, highlighting a treatment gap.
The TUNE-UP clinic will address this by delivering gold-standard weight-loss interventions tailored to the needs of SLaM patients living with psychosis and obesity. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of TUNE-UP will be assessed through a pragmatic cohort study to inform NHS policy and guide national implementation.