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20 May / 19News
“Social work has the power to transform people’s lives” – Chair of Health Education England welcomes new participants
The chair of Health Education England – the body that coordinates the education and training of England’s health workforce – has welcomed our new intake of participants, who are starting the Think Ahead programme in July. Delivering the keynote speech at this year’s Cohort Launch Event on Saturday, Sir David Behan, who is a former social […]
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30 Apr / 19News
Independent evaluation of the Think Ahead programme draws positive conclusions
Durham University and the University of Bristol have today published their independent evaluation of the Think Ahead programme, containing a raft of positive findings and concluding that the programme is “worthy of continued support and further development”. The evaluation followed the first cohort of Think Ahead participants, who completed our two-year programme in September 2018, […]
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11 Apr / 19News
“It has strengthened social work’s role in community mental health team transformation” – Impact Update 2019 published
Our first cohort of participants, who joined Think Ahead in 2016, completed the programme in September 2018. [Partnering with Think Ahead has] made the Board more aware of social work, heightened the profile of social work, and strengthened social work’s role in community mental health team transformation. Service manager from 2018 partner organisation Six months […]
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5 Dec / 18News
New Lived Experience Partnership Chair appointed
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Oliver Wood as the new independent chair of our Lived Experience Partnership. Established in 2014, the Lived Experience Partnership ensures the needs of service users and carers are represented in everything we do. The group has been involved in shaping many aspects of our flagship training programme […]
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26 Nov / 18News
Minister meets Think Ahead participants
The Minister of State for Care, Caroline Dinenage MP, today visited Think Ahead participants working as mental health social workers. The Minister was able to hear first-hand about the impact of social work in mental health services, and the difference our participants are making in their work with people with severe and enduring mental health […]
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13 Sep / 18News
“It’s one of the most important and rewarding professions you can do” – Chair of Social Work England congratulates Think Ahead’s first cohort on their achievements
Think Ahead officially launched its alumni network at an event on Monday night, ahead of the first cohort of participants completing the programme at the end of the month. After two years of rigorous academic training and on-the-job learning, Think Ahead’s first cohort had the opportunity to celebrate their achievements so far and look to […]
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4 Sep / 18In the media
“Social work is the missing piece of the mental health puzzle” – Co-Chief Executive interviewed by Professional Social Work magazine
Think Ahead’s Co-Chief Executive Natalie Acton has been interviewed by Professional Social Work, a magazine published by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). Natalie highlighted the importance of achieving greater recognition of the value social work can bring to mental health. She said that while attempts to tackle the UK’s mental health challenge have primarily […]
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20 Jul / 18News
“Lift your head up and see how you can make wider changes” – New participants embark on their journey
This week marked the beginning of an exciting time for Think Ahead and the 103 participants in our third intake as they embarked on their two-year journey to become mental health social workers. Participants are today completing the first week of the Summer Institute, a six-week residential learning experience which gives them a grounding in […]
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23 Nov / 17News
“The participants have been a brilliant addition” – managers share their views on partnering with Think Ahead
At Think Ahead we are committed to evaluating our impact, to understand both how well we are doing and how we can be even better. We’ve commissioned an independent evaluation of our programme, and we’ve set up internal processes to regularly gather information and opinions from people involved with Think Ahead. We can now share […]
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18 Oct / 17News
Impact Review launched: The journey we’ve been on, and our ambitions for the future
Supporters of Think Ahead gathered on Tuesday night for the launch of our first Impact Review. When we began in 2014, we set out to inspire a movement to advance our vision: to see a society where everyone with mental health problems can flourish. Now, with nearly 200 participants going through the programme, we’ve launched […]
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21 Jul / 17News
“You are the people who can inspire change!” – Think Ahead Trustees welcome 2017 participants
This week marked another milestone for Think Ahead as our second intake of graduates and career changers began their journey into mental health social work. The 98 participants, who studied at over 50 different universities, arrived at our Summer Institute on Sunday for six weeks of intensive learning. We’re working in partnership with the Universities of York and […]
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27 Mar / 17News
“There’s so much support” – Think Ahead participants meet our new recruits
That was the message from Thea Radburn, a current participant on the Think Ahead programme, to our new intake of trainee social workers at our 2017 Cohort Launch Event on Saturday. The event allowed the 2017 participants to meet each other for the first time, and to learn from participants already going through the Think […]
