{"id":2,"date":"2020-05-13T13:29:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T12:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/charlie-waller-institute\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2025-07-22T16:17:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T15:17:56","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/charlie-waller-institute\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Origins\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Charlie Waller Institute was launched in January 2008 as a collaboration between the University of Reading, Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (BHFT) and the Charlie Waller Trust. Its former Directors (Professor Roz Shafran, Professor Shirley Reynolds) led the Institute in rapid growth with the support of funding from the Charlie Waller Trust and BHFT. Since then, the Charlie Waller Institute has grown rapidly in size and strength. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Charlie Waller Trust was created by the Waller family in 1997 in response to the loss of their son and brother Charlie. Charlie suffered from depression at a time when mental health was more heavily stigmatised and at 28 he died by suicide. The Trust has since become one of the UK\u2019s most respected mental health charities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Charlie Waller Trust enables people to understand and talk openly about mental health, maintain and enhance their mental wellbeing, and have the confidence to seek help when they need it. Please visit the Charlie Waller Trust <\/a><\/span>website<\/span> to find out more about their work, or visit Our work with CWT page<\/a> for co-funded course information and case studies of our work together.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Objectives\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The aims of the Charlie Waller Institute are to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n