The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust

To the outside world Charlie Waller had everything to live for, a successful career, good friends and a loving family. In September 1997 Charlie committed suicide at the age of 28. He was suffering from depression and no longer had the strength to cope with life. Shortly after this tragic event his family founded The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust to increase awareness of the signs and the dangers of Depression and to foster encouragement of those who may be depressed to seek help.

Five Hundred people attended Charlie Waller’s funeral. He was neither old, nor a local stalwart such as a publican; he was not a young victim whose senseless murder provoked commentators to talk of “a community in shock”. Nor was he a figure of renown, whose obsequies the great and good felt bound to attend. Charlie Waller was simply a 28 year-old advertising executive from Fulham, unknown beyond his contemporaries. His death had an impact which continues to affect those who knew him.

Charlie’s case is not an isolated one. Each year around 1,760 young men commit suicide and a recent report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists highlighted the impact of stress and work pressures. Since Charlie’s death in 1997, his parents, family and friends have worked through the Trust to increase awareness of the symptoms and dangers of depression and remove the stigma that is attached to mental illness. More articles about Charlie are available on our press page

• To increase awareness of depression and its symptoms among the general public
• To encourage and support those suffering from depression to seek professional help
• To reduce the stigma of depression
• To monitor research into depression, including its causes, effects and treatments
• To introduce education about depression into schools, colleges, universities and the work place
• To provide more training courses for GPs, Practice Nurses and Primary Health Care Workers.
• Continue to support and implement mental health initiatives wherever possible
• Continue to fill gaps in counselling, psychotherapy and CBT.
• To persuade Government to implement NICE guidelines on mental health.

Directors: The Rt. Hon. Sir Mark Waller (Chairman), Alastair Barclay FCA (Treasurer), Gordon Black CBE, The Hon. Sir Michael Connell, Mark Durden-Smith, Nigel Gray, Ian McIntosh, Richard Waller, Charles Lytle, Mary Bennett (Clinical Psychologist).
Patrons: Neil Durden-Smith, OBE, The Hon. Mrs. Damon de Laszlo, Dennis Silk CBE, Anthony West, Michael Whitfeld.
Project Director: Brigadier Michael Lord
Secretary to the Trustees: Bronwen Sutton
CWMT continues to work in association with Professor Andre Tylee at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London.
Dr. Roz Shafran, Chair in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at the University of Reading since April, 2007.
Aileen Moore. Appointed as Waller Mental Health Trainer for North East, Yorkshire and Humberside.
Denise Fisher. Mental Health Trainer, October, 2007 - CSIP/North West Development Centre.
Gill Allen. Appointed as Waller Mental Health Trainer within the London Development Centre from February, 2008.
Laura Stancevic, Schools Outreach Worker in conjunction with Young Minds. Appointed June, 2007.

The Trust gives priority to bids which are primarily concerned with support for new treatments for depression, both organisational and practical, and for new approaches to the training and support of primary care mental health staff including those employed in schools, colleges and universities. The Trust will not normally consider bids to maintain a service which is well established and proven, where any funding shortfalls should be borne by the NHS.

In the past Trustees have approved one-off bids for sums in the range £2,000-£75,000, in some cases having obtained support from other grant-making trusts. In addition Trustees have funded recurring grants for up to £50,000 over a period of up to 5 years.