Station10 MQ Charity Blog
Championing mental health research with MQ
Over the last year, Station10 has raised £1,685 across four events (including our ‘Uphill Struggle’ for mental health) for our 2020 charity of the year: MQ.
MQ is a mental health research charity that focuses on investing in mental health research, changing public attitudes on mental health and influencing policy changes and practices to improve the lives of millions of people.
With a pandemic hitting the World in full-force last year, we felt drawn towards a charity that focused on mental health. It wasn’t immediately apparent what impact Covid would have on us all, but we knew it would be a big one and we were keen to support an organisation that was investing in research on this topic. And as data strategists ourselves, we felt an affinity towards MQ and the work they do; using data to understand mental health and influence policy for positive change.
Since the beginning of the Pandemic, MQ has been doing incredible work alongside Swansea University, the Mental Health Foundation and Leaders Unlocked on a study into how young people in the UK are struggling with their mental health as a result of Covid-19. This study found that 68% of British teenagers feel that the pandemic will make the future worse for people their age, whilst half of those surveyed said they had not been able to stop or control their worrying.
In addition to this, MQ has been involved in ensuring that mental health in patients remains a key element in the research into the direct impacts of Covid-19. With this in mind, they have been working on two of the biggest global studies into Covid-19:
- The Post-Hospitalisation Covid-19 study: to understand and improve long-term health outcomes for patients hospitalised with confirmed or suspected Covid-19
- Covid-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study: investigating the neurological and neuropsychiatric effects of Covid-19 to understand who is at risk and develop strategies on how to treat them
It’s clear that the pandemic will have an impact on a lot of people for many years to come. We hope that with the help of charities such as MQ, we can start to fully understand the implications of Covid-19, along with how we can give affected individuals the support they need.