Why support MQ?
MQ Mental Health Research is the UK’s leading mental health research charity.
Mental illness affects up to one in four of us, yet funding for this health crisis falls woefully short, with only £9 spent on research per person affected by mental illness.
Our vision is to create a world where mental illnesses are understood, effectively treated and, one day, prevented. We do this through directly funding research across the translational spectrum, putting impact at the heart of all we do. Since 2013, we’ve invested over £23m into more than 40 research projects across the world.
In the last 8 years, MQ's research has already delivered real world change. From developing a tool to predict which young people are at high risk of developing depression in the future, to a new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in front-line healthcare workers, we ensure research reaches the people who need it.
Professor Emily Holmes, former MQ Trustee
It is clear we need effective and accessible mental health interventions that can be delivered at scale to reach the number of people needed. This challenge demands research into how best to help people.
We also believe that by connecting the public and those with lived experience of mental illness with researchers and scientists, we can continue to see breakthrough in policy, practice and in lives transformed.
There is much more to do to help people talk transformatively about mental health; to access improved services and treatments more easily; to take part in mental health research via our online platform, Participate and invest their support in helping the next generation of those experiencing mental illness.
But to achieve this, we need the support of people like you.
We are looking for partners who can help us transform the face of mental health in the UK.
Gemma Styles, MQ Ambassador
Not having an answer to why I experience the mental health issues I do has been endlessly frustrating and treatments have been far from a definitive solution. As well as gaining insight into the best ways to help people struggling with mental health conditions, research is vital in understanding how they begin and can be prevented in the future. I don’t think we can overstate its value. I’m honoured to be an ambassador for MQ and hope to help them in their work however I can.
James Downs, MQ Ambassador
“I want to look back in the future and see that, from prevention and early intervention, to treatment and ongoing management of mental health problems, we know what we are doing in the same way we do with physical health […] We cannot afford the costs of not investing in research. The costs aren’t just economic - they are in the stories of people like me.”