Sir Norman Lamb’s story

Writing for our 10 year anniversary series, Sir Norman Lamb, former Liberal Democrat MP and Minister of State for Care and Support, reflects on the issues Think Ahead was created to resolve.

10 years ago there were various fast-track programmes being created for the public sector but there was a gap in adult social work.

As Minister for Care and Support at the time it was my decision to establish Think Ahead. Working in politics can be frustrating, with great ideas to improve things coming and going but never developing into anything.

With Think Ahead though, we came up with a plan and – with guidance and advice from the Institute of Public Policy Research and various key people – we made it happen.

Taking a different approach to mental health support

We are all shaped by experiences we have in our lives. Our family is no different to most others and we’ve had our own experiences of mental health problems. Our oldest son was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder when he was a teenager, which is a cruel and painful condition.

We came up against a system that felt like it was failing us. We were able to escape from it to some extent and pay for treatment and support. But most people can’t do that, and they’re left waiting.

I have a sense of pride for the role I played at the start of Think Ahead, but I’m immensely grateful to everyone who has taken the idea and created something that is real, powerful and effective.

Also, my older sister Catherine took her own life in her mid-60s, after spending 10 weeks as a voluntary inpatient.

I was left thinking – did that stay help her?

I once heard a Think Ahead social worker speak about how they work with people to rebuild lives and I was left thinking we should be devoting more energy to helping people rebuild their lives, rather than containing them in old fashioned institutions.

I have a sense of pride for the role I played at the start of Think Ahead, but I’m immensely grateful to everyone who has taken the idea and created something that is real, powerful and effective.

As Minister of State for Care and Support, Sir Norman Lamb played a pivotal role in the creation of our charity.

To mark our ten year anniversary, we’re sharing personal testimonies from people involved with our charity.  From founding leaders of the charity like Sir Norman Lamb, to trainees of ours, people with lived experience of mental health services, and our NHS and social care partners.

Read more of these on our stories page.