Brent Centre for Young People

What Brent Centre for Young People does

Brent Centre for Young People is a London-based registered mental health charity founded in 1967 by Moe and Egle Laufer as the first adolescent-specific mental health service in the UK. The organisation delivers specialist psychoanalytic talking therapies, most notably its proprietary Adolescent Exploratory Therapy (AET), to young people aged 5–24 across the London boroughs of Brent, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, Harrow and Ealing, with additional reach via its Brent Centre Highlands office in Inverness, Scotland. Each year the Centre supports more than 800 young people, alongside families, schools and partner agencies.

The service portfolio is delivered through a set of discrete programmes rather than a single platform: in-house AET, the Sport and Thought football-based group therapy, a Schools Service, Westminster Centre for Young People, and specialist services covering disordered eating, domestic violence, neurodiversity, the Irish Project (including Traveller outreach), and the Youth Offending Service. Underpinning the delivery is a longitudinal research programme, including a study of 712 AET cases from 2003–2022 on therapeutic endings and ongoing mixed-method work on adolescent suicidality.

The business model is grant-funded rather than commercial. Income is sourced primarily from charitable trusts and foundations (John Lyon's Charity, The National Lottery Community Fund, BBC Children in Need, Charles Hayward Foundation, City Bridge Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Henry Smith Charity and the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme), supplemented by individual donations processed through Blackbaud, JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving, and a smaller fee-paying Private Services stream. The Centre operates from Laufer House in London, the Westminster Centre in Shirland Road, and the Highlands office in Inverness, with 11–50 employees and leadership under CEO Valentina Levi, appointed in 2024.

Name

Brent Centre for Young People

Legal name

Brent Centre for Young People

Website

https://brentcentre.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Brent Centre for Young People is a London-based mental health charity delivering specialist psychoanalytic talking therapies, including its Adolescent Exploratory Therapy, to over 800 young people aged 5–24 annually across London boroughs and a Highlands office in Inverness.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Mental Health Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Child and Youth Services (624110), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Behavioral Health for Children & Adolescents (Youth Services) (HLAFACAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Youth Mental Health, Counseling & Wellbeing (Education-Linked) Nonprofits (BPAGADAK), Mental Health Counseling & Therapy Services (K–12) (EDAJALAG)

Keywords

• Youth mental health services
• Adolescent psychotherapy
• Talking therapies
• Mental health charity
• School counselling

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Charitable Grants and Trust Funding: The organisation receives substantial funding from charitable trusts and foundations including John Lyon's Charity, The National Lottery Community Fund, BBC Children in Need, Charles Hayward Foundation, City Bridge Trust, and numerous other grant-making organisations.
2. Donations: Individual donations from supporters and the public, including online donations and legacy giving programmes.
3. Private Services: The organisation offers private psychotherapy services for children, adolescents, and families through brentcentrepsychotherapy.org.uk, providing a revenue stream for those who can pay privately.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Brent Centre for Young People provides specialist psychoanalytic talking therapies and mental health support for young people aged 5–24. Its core service is one-to-one and group psychotherapy delivered by a multidisciplinary clinical team, supplemented by targeted programmes for young offenders, the Irish Traveller community, those affected by disordered eating or domestic violence, and neurodiverse young people. The Centre combines direct therapy with in-school services, training, and outreach, and operates parallel free (grant-funded) and fee-paying private pathways.

Product overview

The Brent Centre for Young People operates as a mental health charity providing a suite of specialist psychotherapy and support services for young people aged 5-24. The offering is organized as a portfolio of distinct programs rather than a unified software platform. Core services include Adolescent Exploratory Therapy (in-house individual therapy), the Sport and Thought programme (football-based group therapy), the Schools Service, and the Westminster Centre for Young People. Additional specialist services address specific needs: Disordered Eating support, Domestic Violence support, Neurodiversity support, The Irish Project (culturally informed support for Irish communities), and the Youth Offending Service (YOS). The Centre also offers Private Services for fee-paying clients. Each service operates as a separate programme with its own referral pathways, delivery staff, and therapeutic approach, unified by the Centre's psychoanalytic talking therapy framework.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• In-House Services (Adolescent Psychotherapy) Core psychoanalytic talking therapy service for young people aged 5–24 experiencing depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide ideation, family conflict, and related difficulties, delivered by a multidisciplinary clinical team at the Centre's premises.
• Private Services Private (fee-paying) psychoanalytic psychotherapy service for adults and young people, delivered by the Centre's clinical team via a dedicated website (brentcentrepsychotherapy.org.uk).
• Sport and Thought A structured programme combining sport and physical activity with group psychotherapy, designed to engage young people who may not access traditional talking therapies.
• Schools Service Therapy and counselling delivered within schools, providing accessible mental health support to pupils on-site and reducing barriers to access.
• Westminster Centre for Young People The Centre's West London site offering adolescent psychotherapy and related services to young people in Westminster and surrounding boroughs.
• Youth Offending Service (YOS) Specialist psychoanalytic psychotherapy service for young people involved in the youth justice system, working in partnership with youth offending teams.
• The Irish Project A culturally informed psychotherapy service for young Irish Travellers, addressing the specific mental health needs and cultural context of this marginalised community.
• Support for Disordered Eating Therapeutic support for young people struggling with disordered eating, delivered by the Centre's multidisciplinary clinical team.
• Domestic Violence Support Psychotherapy service for young people affected by domestic violence, addressing trauma and associated mental health impacts.
• Neurodiversity Support

Quantifiable outcome

• Supported over 800 young people annually in London
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Kooth: UK digital youth mental health platform commissioned by the NHS and local authorities. Comparable as a youth mental health service delivery model in the UK, but with a digital self-serve model versus the Brent Centre's long-term in-person psychotherapy.

Broad incumbents

• YoungMinds: UK charity focused on children and young people's mental health, though primarily an advocacy and information organization rather than a direct therapy provider. Comparable as a national youth mental health brand and policy counterpart.
• Mind: Major UK mental health charity offering information, support, and some local services. Comparable as a UK-wide mental health charity with grant funding and service delivery, but Mind's scope is far broader (all ages, all conditions) versus Brent Centre's youth-specific focus.
• Childline (NSPCC): NSPCC-operated free helpline and counselling service for children and young people in the UK. Comparable as a national, grant-funded youth mental health support service, though delivery is helpline/digital rather than long-term psychotherapy.
• CAMHS (NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services): Statutory NHS-provided mental health services for children and adolescents. Directly comparable as the primary referral partner and clinical counterpart in the UK youth mental health pathway; the Brent Centre specifically complements CAMHS with long-term psychoanalytic therapy.
• Samaritans: UK-wide charity providing emotional support including a youth-focused service. Comparable as a UK mental health charity, though its model is listening/peer support rather than specialist psychotherapy.

Direct peers

• Place2Be: UK children's mental health charity providing counselling and emotional support in schools. Comparable as a school-based youth mental health charity with similar referral-led distribution and grant-funded revenues.
• Anna Freud Centre: UK charity providing mental health treatment, training, and research for children and young people. Directly comparable as a specialist child/adolescent mental health organization with research arm and clinical service delivery, also routes young people into therapy via referral.
• Charlie Waller Trust: UK charity focused on young people's mental health, particularly depression awareness and treatment training. Comparable as a specialist youth mental health charity with school-based programmes and funded clinical services.
• Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust: NHS specialty provider of child and adolescent psychotherapy and mental health services in London, with overlapping psychoanalytic and developmental therapeutic traditions. Directly comparable in service model (long-term talking therapies for youth) and clinical training lineage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/BCYP1
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/brent-centre-for-young-people
• Instagraminstagram.com/brentcentreforyoungpeople
• Xx.com/BrentCentre

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Brent Centre for Young People