Our vision is for a world with good mental health for all. Our mission is to help people understand, protect and sustain their mental health. Prevention is at the heart of what we do, because the best way to deal with a crisis is to prevent it from happening in the first place. We take a public mental health approach to prevention, finding solutions for individuals, those at risk and for society, in order to improve everyone’s mental wellbeing.

Prevention of poor mental health is not only possible, but urgently needed. Our strategy affirms our commitment to making prevention happen, so that people across the UK can live mentally healthier lives.

The unacceptably high level of mental ill-health is the public health challenge of our time.
We know the scale of the problem. In the UK, one in six adults and one in eight 5-19 year-olds meet the criteria for a common mental health problem every week. Suicide is the leading killer of men and women between the ages of 15-35. Fewer than one in eight adults say they are thriving. Mental health problems are the biggest contributor to ill-health.

Seventy years ago, our founder Derek Richter talked about the impact of issues like trauma, neglect and poverty on our mental health. Evidence over the last 30 years has shed more light on the causes of mental ill-health, illuminating how genetic, social, economic, family and emotional factors make us more or less likely to develop a mental health problem. Together, these factors interact and influence each other. As we have understood how many of us experience mental health problems, the focus has been on finding and developing effective treatments. This is vitally important.