Agenda item

This report updates the Board on the local work undertaken to promote mental wellbeing in response to Thrive LDN. 

Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) introduced the report and informed the Board that in 2017 the Mayor of London and the London Health Board had launched Thrive LDN – a city-wide movement aspiring to promote mental wellbeing, prevent illness and eliminate suicide in London. In 2018 Thrive LDN had launched a summer awareness-raising campaign focusing on inequalities in mental health and several teams across the Council and Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) would work together to explore how various Thrive LDN materials could be used locally in order to adapt the campaign’s six aspirations (see paragraph 3.2 of the report (page 28 of the Agenda pack) and start conversations with local people and community groups. In addition, the Board heard that the Council was conducting an outcome based review (OBR) on mental health and employment and an event promoting five ways to wellbeing and resilience would be organised. In relation to the OBR, Phil Porter (Strategic Director of Community Wellbeing, Brent Council) said that it would be conducted in partnership with Brent Clinical Commissioning Group and Job Centre Plus. Mr Porter said that the OBR was expected to raise awareness of the services offered by various providers and highlight duplications so processes could be streamlined to improve performance.

Una Carney (Head of Thrive LDN and Partnership Communications and Engagement) provided background information to the project, including the ‘Are you OK, London’ campaign which had taken place in the period August to October 2017. Its aim was to bring a range stakeholders, ranging from schools to businesses, together to examine mental health from multiple perspectives. 17 workshops had been held across London (including in Brent) and 20,000 individual interactions had taken place. One of the big issues that had been identified was inequality – for instance, people from certain backgrounds and those living in poverty were identified as being at a higher risk of experiencing mental health issues. In relation to the 2018 campaign, Ms Carney pointed out that it had recently been launched online and it provided opportunities for local authorities to customise it to fit their needs. This led to a discussion about specific actions taken in Brent and Ms Carney said that the as a result of the ‘Are you OK, London’ campaign, a number of stakeholders had expressed interest to work with Thrive LDN to localise campaigns to fit the needs of the Borough. She emphasised the importance of mobilising local communities to lead on campaigns and assured the Board that support was available to Thrive Champions.

In response to a question about engaging further education colleges, Ms Carney said that while Thrive LDN had been successful in involving a number of universities, it had been difficult to reach out to further education colleges so the organisation would be grateful if stakeholders at borough level could facilitate dialogue. Gail Tolley (Strategic Director of Children and Young People, Brent Council) suggested that the matter could be discussed at a strategic level through London Councils. 

Referring to paragraph 3.7 of the report (page 29 of the Agenda pack), Dr Ethie Kong said that stakeholders in the health sector were promoting the health and wellbeing of their employees through a network of ambassadors who organised lunchtime activities to raise awareness.

In relation to aspirations for the future, Ms Carney said that Thrive LDN was looking forward to securing funding to run a leadership development programme to provide formal training to Thrive Champions and promote the movement’s aspirations. In addition, a programme focused on mental health awareness and mental health first aid courses would be rolled at primary schools out in collaboration with local charities.

RESOLVED that:

(i)     That the contents of the Mental Wellbeing in Brent report, be noted.

(ii)    Thrive LDN’s principles be endorsed by the Health and Wellbeing Board;

(iii)  The Thrive LDN campaign be noted; and

(iv)  The development of the mental health and employment OBR and its link with the work around mental wellbeing be noted.