i-THRIVE: Supporting the delivery of mental health services for young people

i-THRIVE supports care providers to implement the THRIVE framework – an integrated, person-centred, and needs-led approach to delivering mental health services for children, young people and their families.

We are collaborating with the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice to develop i-THRIVE which aims to spread use of the THRIVE framework across the country to ensure children with mental health problems are supported according to their individual needs, not simply according to their diagnosis.

About the THRIVE Framework

The THRIVE Framework for system change (Wolpert et al., 2019) is an integrated, person centred and needs led approach to delivering mental health services for children, young people and their families that was 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 provides a set of principles for creating coherent and resource-efficient communities of mental health and wellbeing support for children, young people and families. It aims to talk about mental health and mental health wellbeing help and support in a common language that everyone understands. The Framework is needs-led which means that mental health needs are defined by the children, young people and their families, alongside professionals, through shared decision making. Needs are not based on severity, diagnosis or care pathways.

The THRIVE Framework thinks about the mental health and wellbeing needs of children, young people and families through five different needs based groupings: Getting Advice and Signposting, Getting Help, Getting More Help, and Getting Risk Support. Emphasis is placed on the prevention and promotion of mental health and wellbeing across the whole population. Children, young people and their families are empowered through active involvement in decisions about their care, which is fundamental to the approach.

The THRIVE Framework is for:

• all children and young people aged 0–25 within a specified locality;
• all families and carers of children and young people aged 0–25 within a specified locality, and;
• any professionals who seek to promote mental health awareness and help or support children and young people with mental health and wellbeing needs, including those at risk of mental health difficulties (whether staff in educational settings, social care, voluntary or health sectors or others).

The National i-THRIVE Programme

i-THRIVE is the implementation of the THRIVE Framework, translating the principles of the THRIVE Framework into local models of care using an evidence based approach to implementation.

Sites are supported through implementation via the i-THRIVE Toolkit and also through the i-THRIVE Academy, a set of learning and development modules created for cross-sector professionals that support children and young people’s mental health. The i-THRIVE Academy modules are also in the process of being translated into five e-Learning modules. If you would like to find out more about the support offered via the i-THRIVE Toolkit and i-THRIVE Academy, please visit our website or contact the team at ithriveinfo@tavi-port.nhs.uk.

National i-THRIVE Community of Practice

A core element of the National i-THRIVE Programme is the National i-THRIVE Community of Practice; a community of organisations and local areas that are using the i-THRIVE Approach to Implementation to implement the key principles of the THRIVE Framework. If you are interested in joining the National i-THRIVE Community of Practice or would like to find out more about the support that you can access through it, please contact the team at ithriveinfo@tavi-port.nhs.uk.

i-THRIVE impact and evaluation

Evaluation of i-THRIVE includes:

• “The impact of a needs‐based model of care on accessibility and quality of care within children’s mental health services: A qualitative investigation of the UK i‐THRIVE Programme” – This study aimed to investigate the impact that this programme has on accessibility and quality of care, as viewed by key stakeholders.