Press Releases

Making a difference to Berkshire mental health – University of Reading

Release Date : 09 October 2009

Charlie Waller Institute - World Mental Health Day 2009

World Mental Health Day 2009, 10 October, is focusing attention on the terrible global issue of mental health. In Berkshire, the Charlie Waller Institute is quietly marking its own positive contribution to the county's mental health during its first 18 months of existence.

Opened in January 2008, The Charlie Waller Institute of Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment at the University of Reading was the first of its type to train clinicians in proven psychological treatments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The training is delivered by leading national and international experts in the field who have developed and evaluated the treatments.

The Institute has recently completed the first year of training for clinicians in and around Berkshire with 113 clinicians from Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and 361 other clinicians attending the short training courses.

Particular highlights from the first year included a workshop on the treatment of depression in older adults and a major conference on men's mental health.

With colleagues, The Institute has also won a new contract to train high and low intensity therapists in the London region.

Director of the Charlie Waller Institute, Professor Roz Shafran, said: "The scale of the problem the world faces is huge with one in four people estimated to be affected by mental health problems and with most mental disorders still going untreated. Recent Department of Health funding for the ground-breaking IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) programme is making a difference in our region. At the Charlie Waller Institute, we are supporting local Primary Care Trusts in implementing this programme for people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.

"By training therapists in psychological therapies that have been shown to work we are not only offering hope to the six million people in the UK with these conditions but also making a major contribution to reversing the debilitating effects this has on our society."

The training programme at the Charlie Waller Institute for 2009/10 includes world leaders in their representative fields coming to the Institute to provide training on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for depression in adults and children, interpersonal psychotherapy for depression, prevention of relapse in depression, eating disorders, health anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, specific phobias, late-life anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and body dysmorphic disorder.

Please click here to watch the Reading Post video news item (The University of Reading is not responsible for the content of external internet site).

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The Institute is named after Charlie Waller, a Berkshire man who took his own life at the age of 28. His parents, Rt. Hon Sir Mark Waller and Lady Rachel Waller, set up a Trust in his memory to raise awareness of the nature and dangers of depression, reduce stigma and train clinicians in effective psychological therapies. Ten years on the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust has grown into a national charity (see www.cwmt.org for further information).

The Charlie Waller Institute provides high quality workshops in addition to both a Certificate and Diploma in evidence-based psychological treatment. The workshops and courses are delivered only by nationally and internationally recognised clinical academics who are leaders in their field. Certificate and Diploma courses have been running since January 2008. The year-long Diploma course is accredited by BABCP at Level 1, and will enable clinicians to receive specialist supervision and develop expertise at delivering evidence-based interventions (predominantly cognitive behaviour therapy).