Funding has been secured to support the development of a new mental health centre for young people in London. 

The Reuben Foundation has made a multi-million-pound donation to build the new Reuben Young People’s Centre at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. 

The gift comes as Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and its charity, CW+, are working with partners from across London to establish the NHS Best For You programme to help address the rapidly-increasing number of young people experiencing deteriorating mental health. 

The unique programme is spearheaded by CW+ and three NHS organisations in the North West London Integrated Care System: Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and West London NHS Trust. 

It brings together a coalition of community, technology, and voluntary-sector organisations to establish a new model of mental health care for young people and their families. 

And the new centre will be a cornerstone of the programme, designed to provide immediate, specialist, and integrated care to young people in mental health crisis in a way that best meets the needs of the individual and their family. 

It will be the largest facility of its kind in London combining, for the first time, mental and physical care in one dedicated environment for adolescents.  

The impact of the pandemic on children and young people has been profound and as a family we were determined to play our part in ensuring this group receives the care and support they need to begin the process of recovery and readjustment

The unit will be staffed by a multidisciplinary team of paediatricians, specialist nurses, psychologists, therapists, trained volunteers, counsellors, and youth workers to assess, transfer, and treat young people requiring help quickly and seamlessly.  

Building on Chelsea and Westminster’s position as a national leader in both digital innovation and clinical estate design, the centre will be a holistic, but digitally-enhanced environment, designed in collaboration with clinicians, academics, young people, and their families to help create the optimum environment for recovery. 

Lesley Watts, chief executive of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The new Reuben Young People’s Centre will enable us to provide the very best care for young people from across our region.  

“Importantly, it will also help inform a new national standard of care for young people in an acute hospital setting and allow us to play a central role in addressing the growing national crisis in young people’s mental health and wellbeing.” 

Chris Chaney, chief executive of CW+, added: “This vital new facility and the Best For You programme are desperately needed and will have a huge impact helping young people and their families access the best care and support possible. 

“Tackling the complex and multifaceted crisis we are seeing in the mental wellbeing of our young people requires a diverse and committed range of partners and we are thrilled that the Reuben Family has once again chosen to support us in trying to make a significant and tangible difference to the lives of children, young people, and families in our community.” 

And Lisa Reuben, trustee of the Reuben Foundation, said: “The impact of the pandemic on children and young people has been profound and as a family we were determined to play our part in ensuring this group receives the care and support they need to begin the process of recovery and readjustment.  

“We believe the Reuben Young People’s Centre has an important role to play in this process and we hope this approach will also act as a template that other communities and NHS organisations will benefit from.”