The team at Derbyshire Voluntary Action is excited and proud to announce that the THR1VE children and young people’s social project has been shortlisted as a finalist for a Health Service Journal Partnership Award 2023.
THR1VE is a Children’s Social Prescribing Programme launched by DVA in 2021 alongside Chesterfield FC Community Trust. Their mission is to reach out to young people struggling with their confidence and connections. Thr1ve recognises young people’s potential and offers support to help boost confidence, independence and participation.
THR1VE aims to fill a gap in NHS mental health services between early intervention and CAMHS support for more serious conditions. Over the last nine months the project team has worked more closely with the school nursing teams in Chesterfield and Bolsover. This has had a knock on effect on the workload of school nurses who are able to focus on the children and young people that they are most able to help. So far the project has worked with 125 young people at the community hub at Chesterfield FC’s Technique Stadium.
The HSJ Awards reward outstanding efforts and achievements in healthcare. The award category that THR1VE has been nominated for is ‘Most effective contribution to integrated health and care’. This is something that DVA’s Chief Executive Jacqui Willis is passionate about: “THR1VE came from a determination within our team to create a social prescribing service for children and young people. We firmly believed that this project had the power and potential to help young people.
“We came together with Chesterfield Football Club Community Trust in April 2021 to set up the project with funds from DVA, Chesterfield Health and Wellbeing Partnership and Active Derbyshire. By the end of the first year THR1VE had grown from one Social Prescribing Link worker to a team of four, thanks to additional funding from the Derbyshire Community Health Services and North Hardwick and Bolsover Primary Care network. The team also includes project manager and occupational therapist.”
The next stage of the awards process will involve a presentation to the judging panel to fully explain the huge benefits of THR1VE. There will then be a nail biting wait for all involved until the awards ceremony on the 23rd March at Evolution London.
Good luck to all the team!