Charlie Alcock

Charlie Alcock (born 1979, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire; full name: Charlotte L. Alcock) is a British Clinical Psychologist and charity founder and CEO. Charlie attended the Cheltenham Ladies' College (1991-1998) and gained a first class degree in Sociology from the University of Warwick in 2001. Charlie went on to attain a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology with distinction from Oxford Brookes University and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Canterbury Christchurch College in 2007. During her latter clinical training, Charlie specialised in community work and sourced a placement in New York at The DOME Project. There she worked with young offenders attached to street gangs such as the Bloods and the Crips - two of the most influential and dangerous gangs in the USA.

Charlie founded the MAC-UK charity in September 2008, alongside a group of extremely deprived and disaffected young men in North London. The charity now employs 9 staff and has a large body of volunteers which supports its work. It works at an individual, community and policy level.

MAC-UK

Charlie wanted to use a youth led approach to start up a project that would make mental heath accessible to deprived young people. She hung out by the local fish and chip shop in a very deprived area of North London, renowned for a high level of crime, gang violence, poverty and unemployment, until a young person spoke to her; it was 18 months in the making. At first they treated her with extreme suspicion. Some people threw stones and spat at her. Slowly, she gained their trust and together they set up MAC-UK's founding project, Music and Change.

Three years on, the charity engages with deprived young people all over London- those who do not seek help themselves and who are involved in gangs and other highly antisocial behaviour. Charlie and her team work alongside them to promote positive mental health through innovative, youth-led projects involving music, sport, theatre and cookery and one-to-one work known as “street therapy”. This confidential approach provides the opportunity to talk about any issues wherever they want, on a park bench or in McDonald’s.

MAC-UK and the young people involved also train other youth agencies in mental health and youth led working; and seek to positively influence social justice and mental health policy for particularly disadvantaged young people.

Street therapy

“Street therapy” is at the core of the MAC-UK approach. It is a flexible and innovative approach to doing therapy with young people who may not otherwise speak about the challenges in their lives. Our motto is ‘whenever, wherever, whatever’. Street therapy is led by clinical psychologists who work in pairs with other MAC-UK team members, to adapt and apply psychological theory to support young people to realise the lives and futures they want and deserve. We also support young people to address social inequalities and issues which impact on their wellbeing such as housing, education and employment. The aim of street therapy is to alleviate mental health distress, address oppressive social inequalities, and ultimately to bridge young people into existing services by breaking down the barriers between the young people and the services which they find ‘hard to access’. The partnerships we build with other services are central to our work. One young person described how street therapy has supported him in “changing his life”.

Outcomes

Over 75% of the original group of young people who were on the road to prison when Music and Change first met them are now employed or doing work experience. 25% are receiving medical care within the NHS and some are also teaching in local schools.

Awards and nominations

2011

• Charlie is shortlisted for the Charity Times Rising Star Award (results to be announced in October 2011)
• MAC-UK is shortlisted for the Charity Times Charity of the Year 2011 (results to be announced in October 2011)
• MAC-UK was awarded Sainsbury's Local Charity of the Year 2011 (Finchley Road branch)

2010

• Charlie won the Future 100 Social Entrepreneurs Award
• Charlie was runner up for the Beacon Young Philanthropist Award
• MAC-UK was shortlisted for the Centre for Social Justice Prize

2009

• MAC-UK won the NCVYS Young Partners Award for the South of England
• A MAC-UK young person won the Attlee Award 2009 for changing his life and becoming an ambassador for the local community.
• A young MAC-UK trustee won the Barnet Youth and Connexions Award.

Media appearances

• Dr Charlie Alcock appeared on Sky News on the 9th August 2011 to give her comment on the riots.
• Dr Charlie Alcock appeared on BBC Radio London's Late Night Show with Joanne Good on the 9th August 2011 to discuss the riots.

References

• Alcock, C. L.; Camic, P.M., Barker, C., Haridi, C., Raven, R. (September/October 2011). "Intergenerational practice in the community: A focused ethnographic evaluation". Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 21 (5): 419–432. doi:10.1002/casp.1084. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/casp.1084/abstract. Retrieved 10 August 2011. 

• Wilkins, David. "Delivering male: Effective practice in male mental health". Department of Health. http://www.nmhdu.org.uk/silo/files/delivering-male.pdf. Retrieved 10 August 2011.  - MAC-UK was included as an example of exemplary practice (p.43).

External links

• [1] MAC-UK Website
• [2] BBC Radio London interview with Dr Charlie Alcock re London Riots 2011
• [3] MAC-UK nominated for two Charity Times Awards 2011