Turning Point (charity)

Turning Point is a social enterprise and registered charity[4] based in the United Kingdom that runs projects in more than 240 locations across England and Wales. In addition to providing direct services, Turning Point also campaigns on behalf of those with social care needs.

It has a turnover of £111m, £60m of which is for the delivery of substance misuse services, £18m for the delivery of mental health services and £34m for the delivery of support to people with a Learning Disability.[5]

The organisation provides services support for a range of people, including those with mental health issues, learning disabilities and/or substance-related disorders.

Turning Point developed out of The Camberwell Alcohol Project in South East London and was founded by Barry Richards, a London businessman, in 1964.[6]

The charity was described as "one of Princess Diana's favourite charities"; she acted as its patron from 1985 to 1997.[7]

In 2001, Lord Victor Adebowale became Chief Executive.[8] He left in 2020 to start a new position as permanent Chair of the NHS Confederation.[9]

In 2015 the charity denied accusations of "black on black racism" in its appeal against the decision of an earlier employment tribunal that Adebowale had unfairly dismissed the charity's IT director, Ibukun Adebayo.[10] The tribunal found that Adebayo's actions in accessing lewd emails about her from the charity's deputy chief executive to Adebowale constituted gross misconduct,[11] but ruled that this did not justify Adebowale's actions. Adebayo's lawyers said that the actions were unfair because the deputy chief executive's behaviour "was more serious than the claimant's by way of his seniority and position as sponsor of Turning Point's equal opportunities policy."[10]

In 2010, Turning Point established Rightsteps,[12] a business-to-business mental wellbeing and health solutions provider that supports employers and employees in large organisations, SMEs and not-for-profit organisations.

In 2019, in order to reach more people and respond to a growing number of people looking for support, Turning Point established livelife, a private pay, direct-to-consumer, online therapy service.[13] The objective of livelife is to support those who do not qualify for mental health help because their issues are not considered severe enough, and to support those who don't want to wait for an NHS appointment, but want the same assurances of quality. All livelife and Rightsteps profits go back to Turning Point, to support the most vulnerable people in society.

• Care Quality Commission
• NHS England
• Public Health England
• National Voices
• Centre for Mental Health
• Improving Access to Psychological Therapies
• Mental Health Foundation
• Mental Health Providers' Forum
• Nacro
• Together

General:

• Mental health in the United Kingdom

• Official website
• "Turning Point (charity), registered charity no. 234887". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
• Rightsteps
• livelife