Funding will help Matlock clinical psychologist continue 'life changing' research

Founded in 2011 by Dr Miriam Silver, LifePsychol has developed a new approach to assess the needs of children living in local authority care so they can have more appropriate support, while crucially helping local authorities and NHS providers to make significant cost savings.

The online assessment tool, called BERRI, evaluates a child’s behaviour, emotional wellbeing, ability to form relationships, potential risk, and Indicators of underlying psychological conditions such as autism, OCD, post-traumatic stress, or psychosis, enabling appropriate care paths to be developed.

Dr Silver’s research identified that the traumatic experiences of young people, prior to entering the care system, would often result in them going on to lead unhappy or dysfunctional lives in adulthood.

And now LifePsychol has received £152,000 of loan funding through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Dr Miriam Silver, Director, LifePsychol said: “The impact of coronavirus has forced us to review many of our working practices and placed a question mark over whether we could continue key elements of our work.

"After spending time reviewing different options, I approached Finance For Enterprise to see whether my business would be eligible for financial support.

"At a time when I thought it would have been inevitable for us to furlough staff and scale back some of our operations, we are able to continue developing our BERRI programme which will enable us to roll out our work across the UK.

“Demand for mental health services has risen sharply in recent years, yet with many services already stretched, it can lead to people facing lengthy delays to receive the vital help they need.

"The result of our work could bring about significant changes in the way mental health support is delivered, potentially helping to improve the life chances of some of the most vulnerable members of society, while also reducing significant cost pressures on local authorities and NHS providers.”

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