Think Ahead to close in August 2027

Our charity is closing.  Without renewed government funding, we are unable to continue delivering our specialist training programme.

Think Ahead was founded in 2014, after an IPPR report highlighted the vital but overlooked role of social work in mental health services.  We’ve championed its transformative potential ever since.

Over the past 12 years, we have recruited, trained and embedded over 1,000 specialist social workers into NHS trusts and local authorities across England through our programme.

Funding across the sector remains a significant challenge

Without renewed government funding, we are unable to continue delivering our programme, and our Board of Trustees has taken the decision to close in August 2027 after our final cohort complete the programme.

Our impact

We are proud of what we’ve built with our lived experience partners, our NHS and local authority partners, our academic partners and of course our trainees.

Since 2014, we have:

• Trained 1,270 specialist mental health social workers, in 38 NHS trusts and 67 local authorities
• Supported 60,650 people living with severe mental health needs
• Trained 309 consultant social workers as practice educators, supporting newly qualified social workers across the wider mental health workforce.

All of the local authority and NHS trusts who responded to our surveys told us that the partnership had a broader impact on their organisation, beyond the direct practice of their trainees.*

*Cumulative result from NHS trust and local authority annual survey responses. 

Continuing our work

Between now and August 2027, our priority is to support our final cohort of trainees and NHS and local authority partners, and to ensure that what we have learned is not lost.

Roxanne Timmis, Executive Director said,

“We’re proud of everything we’ve achieved and grateful to everyone who supported us.”

“What we’ve built together will continue to matter long after we close.”

 

Our change-making legacy

Think Ahead’s community of trainees, alumni, operational partners and lived experience partners are already leading change in mental health services across England.

Passionate and dedicated, they’re challenging a system that still prioritises medical treatment – showing that supporting people’s social needs is just as important to recovery as their clinical care.

That community of change-makers is what we are most proud to leave behind.