Services

Our History

Helping young people turn corners in their lives for over 55 years

Our Beginning

From the very beginning our work pushed boundaries so we could help young people turn corners in their lives.

In the late 1960s, a forward-thinking psychiatrist named Faith Spicer became concerned by the number of young women struggling with the stigma and shame of pre-marital sex, pregnancy and wellbeing issues.

In 1969, Faith founded the London Youth Advisory Centre (LYAC) where she established a new model of service for adolescents, years ahead of its time in the way it combined contraceptive advice with counselling and psychotherapy. Her work with adolescents was groundbreaking, helping them take charge of their own wellbeing and mental health.

Faith’s work was supported by Brandon Cadbury, who purchased our current beautiful Georgian building in Kentish Town and donated it to the LYAC. In recognition of Brandon’s involvement, the LYAC became Brandon Centre in 1984.

Today

We continue to work from our Brandon Centre building which offers a discreet, welcoming, and homely atmosphere, as well as taking our services out into the community through our neighbourhood outreach work. We’ve also undertaken significant work to ensure our services are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Brandon Centre is a familiar name in the community with generations of families having used our services. Through word of mouth and our long-standing reputation as a specialist organisation, we are continually recommended (for self-referral) or referred to by other organisations.

Thanks to Faith Spicer, our mission remains clear. We continue to push the boundaries of innovation to develop and deliver our mental health and wellbeing services in partnership with other local teams.

We understand the needs of our young people and continue to adapt our services to meet their needs, helping them to harness their strengths and become responsible, fulfilled and healthy young adults

Charitable objectives

The principal objective of Brandon Centre is to maintain and develop an accessible and flexible professional service in response to the psychological, medical, sexual and social challenges of young people under 25 years.

The Centre aims to relieve distress, mobilise personal resources and facilitate growth in adolescents towards responsibility and self-fulfillment. We aim to prevent or alleviate suffering caused by mental ill health, psychological disturbance and maladaption in adult and future family relationships.

Brandon Centre services extend to a wide range of adolescent problems and is based on a psychoanalytic understanding of adolescent development.