FLOURISH aims to rethink and tackle the fundamental injustices that trap people in poverty and psychological distress.  We are initiating a series of projects to support unprepared parents in particular, and creating a network to develop new theories and approaches to mental health.

Our approach

Prevention is better than cure, as they say.  But to prevent mental health problems, it might make sense to understand the causes better than we do.  Generally, mental health professionals locate the problem inside the skull – a chemical imbalance, a genetic component perhaps – with an occasional acceptance that the environment plays its part too.  But there are a growing number of researchers who, like us, believe it is ALL about the environment (at least for the most common mental health issues).  To try to ‘treat’ a person as if they have the problem – when it is the social environment that is responsible – is inappropriate, unjust and ultimately of limited benefit in tackling the explosion of mental health problems in the UK.  

Flourish was founded to bring together people and organisations who want to see better understanding of the often complex interactions in society that lead to persistent psychological distress.  We want to find better alternatives to the broken medical model.  In this website, you can read of some of our initial endeavours, both practical and theoretical, to meet this aim.  But this is a huge problem – we can’t do it by ourselves.  If you believe that society needs to do more to understand the complex ways in which people – especially children – develop mental health problems, please get in touch with us. There are lots of ways you could help.