Our History

Stuart Low was a young Islington man who sadly took his own life in 1997 after failing to find the help he needed to cope with schizophrenia.

His death prompted local people to form the Stuart Low Trust (SLT). Their aim was to create social therapeutic activities for vulnerable, local people.

How we help

Most of our activities take place in the evenings or at weekends, when people may be at their lowest ebb and many services are closed.

"Sometimes just getting your activity flyer in the post keeps me alive." Stuart Low Trust Participant

We are proud of what we have achieved in Islington since we were formed in 1999, but we think that there is more that we can do.

Our achievements

Over the years we have been fortunate to have support from the local community as well as several London-based and national organisations.

External achievements have included:

London Health Commission award for Mental Well-being in 2010
One of three featured charities in the Cripplegate Foundation’s Unlocking the potential: Volunteers in Islington report in 2010
PQASSO accreditation in 2011
Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2015
SLT volunteers recognised at the Voluntary Action Islington Awards in 2016
Healthy London Workplace Charter in 2017
Team London Award 2018

The Sunday Philosophy forum was featured in the Guardian’s Comment is Free section in 2013.

The British Medical Journal chose the Trust as its small charity of the year for 2014 and then repeated it every year.

Be part of our history

We very much appreciate the contributions that past staff, volunteers and trustees have made.

If you would like to be part of our history:

Sign up for our activities.
Be a part of our history by volunteering
Help us to do even more by fundraising for us

Latest

The Change We Want To See

In March 2019 the Stuart Low Trust started developing a Theory of Change. We were keen to include participants in this process. Over 70 participants shared their thoughts on the issues that the Stuart Low Trust addresses and how it does this. Find out what they told us.
Be inspired by Autumn and make art

Autumn is the season of falling leaves, lengthening nights and shortening days. In the natural world, it is a season that is a riot of colour. This is the perfect time of year to be inspired by the rich colours found in nature and use them to make some art.
Be inspired to make art at home this winter

Winter's shorter days and longer nights offers the perfect opportunity for making. Be inspired to make art at home this winter with 6 winter creative activities.
Devising success criteria by defining outcomes and outputs

All organisations wish to have a positive influence on the people that interact with their services. We share what we learned about impact, success criteria, outputs and outcomes. We also highlight the importance of involving participants in defining some of these key concepts.