Mindworks Surrey – emotional wellbeing and mental health service using the THRIVE framework

We’re delighted to be part of the alliance of organisations working to deliver a new emotional wellbeing and mental health service for children and young people in Surrey, called Mindworks Surrey.

The alliance includes Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Barnardo’s, Learning Space, the National Autistic Society and The Surrey Wellbeing Partnership.

The new service adopts the THRIVE framework approach, a conceptual framework for Child and Adolescent Mental Health developed by a collaboration of authors from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.

The THRIVE framework is an integrated, person centred, and needs led approach to delivering mental health services for children, young people and their families. It conceptualises need in five categories; Thriving, Getting Advice and Signposting, Getting Help, Getting More Help and Getting Risk Support.

THRIVE emphasises that the decision on how best to support a child’s mental health cannot be based purely on their diagnosis or presenting symptoms. It stresses the importance of drawing on the evidence base, alongside being transparent about the limitations of treatment, and explicitly engaging children and their families in shared decision-making about the type of help or support they need. The framework suggests that all those involved in the delivery of care across health, education, social care and the voluntary sector work closely with one another to meet these needs, agree on aims, and review progress.

The Trust has developed the Surrey THRIVE Framework and is supporting its implementation as well as providing a clinical training programme to strengthen clinical leadership and support an outcomes-based framework.

Mindworks Surrey also has a brand new website providing children, young people, families and carers with information about services, advice and resources. It is a source of essential information, including how to ask for help in a crisis via the 24/7 Crisis Line and features a dedicated area for professionals including schools and GPs.

The name, and its vibrant branding, has been co-produced with children and young people alongside families, carers, schools, GPs, and alliance staff. The Mindworks Surrey team love that the logo feels positive, upbeat, and reflects different emotions which children and young people can feel. The ‘i’ in Mindworks is deliberately accentuated as, with this new service, the main emphasis is on giving children and young people a central voice in decisions about their care.

Dr Tosin Bowen-Wright, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and the Clinical Programme Lead of the Clinical Programme Team, said: “This is an exciting development for the children, young people and families who live in Surrey.  The coming together of NHS and voluntary sector services, and engagement with the wider system, is innovative and hopeful and speaks to the bold ambitions for the emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Surrey. 

“It’s fantastic to broaden the emotional wellbeing and mental health offer, and move to a model of service delivery, the THRIVE Framework for System change, which is based on principles such as shared decision making, collaboration, a needs-led approach and increasing accessibility. We are so pleased to be a part of this new service and supporting new ways of working.”

Dr Ana Draper, Consultant Systemic Psychotherapist, member of the Clinical Programme Team and outcome lead for the Surrey Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health alliance partnership, said: “I am really excited that as the Tavistock and Portman clinical alliance team we are focusing on outcomes for children and young people. The outcome focus is about children and young people’s needs, linking into the needs-based groupings from which those needs are met. The outcomes will also focus on the THRIVE principles of a collaborative, shared decision making approach, that is proactive and preventative in respect of the needs-based support given.”