About us

The Tavistock and Portman Charity exists to improve access to mental health training for under-represented groups, and support research and clinical innovation, with a particular focus on the social and relational aspects of mental health and wellbeing.

Specifically the Tavistock and Portman Charity operates to:

  • Offer funding to support specific programmes of work to enhance clinical services to support people’s mental health and wellbeing, and address health inequalities.
  • Support students from economically disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds gain access to the Trust’s renowned clinical education courses and programmes.
  • Provide funding for events to raise awareness of the unique value of psychosocial approaches to mental health and wellbeing across the age range.
  • Provide funding for research and development activities that will further improve clinical services to support people’s mental health and wellbeing.

The Tavistock and Portman Charity shares the fundamental aims of The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. We also highlight the importance of relationships from the earliest years throughout all our lives, and to stress the profound impact relationships have on our mental health and general wellbeing.

Here at the Tavistock and Portman Charity we focus on improving access to high quality training for therapists and those working in mental health, education and social care, particularly those with under-represented voices.

We also fund studies that increase our understanding of the impact of relationships on human development, and those that show the benefits of psychological therapy.

We support innovative approaches to improving mental health and promoting emotional wellbeing and healthy relationships. We also help the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust to provide services to those in need.

The pioneers who set up the Tavistock Clinic in 1920 relied on charitable donations to provide their innovative psychological therapies to people, regardless of their means. The Tavistock and Portman joined the NHS at its inception and continued to lead the field in providing psychological support across the age range, alongside education and training for the mental health and social care workforce.

Our charity aims to bring the insight we have gained from more than 100 years of innovation to new generations facing the many challenges of our modern world.