“Having that opportunity to learn about mental health, and how it intertwines, has developed a lot of our services…All of our services have been affected by this programme.” – Thriving Minds grantee

Thriving Minds: Learning Hub

The UK Youth Fund: Thriving Minds was an ambitious fund that supported youth organisations and partnerships working to improve mental health support and provision for young people. The fund ran between 2023 – 2025 and was supported by a £10m investment from the Julia Rausing Trust (formerly the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust) and an additional £1m from the Westminster Foundation.  

99 charities and not-for-profit organisations across the UK were awarded grants of up to £50,000 a year for three years. Organisations were also supported with a tailored package of wrap-around support, including workshops, training and building communities of practice.

“We were able to employ our counsellor who was a game changer for young people. The impact from year one enabled us to get sustainable funding so that it is now a long-term post now for young people within our community.” – Thriving Minds grantee

“I think it’s been the single most important grant we’ve ever received as a charity… We were supporting about 30 to 35 families a year, and we are actually supporting nearer to 130 now … It’s given us the confidence to apply for more funding and to recognise that the scope of what we do could grow.” – Thriving Minds grantee

The list of grantees can be found below.

With thanks to eight of our grantee organisations who feature in a series of case study films. The films showcase the vital work youth organisations and youth workers are doing to support young people’s mental health. These stories bring to life the transformative impact of youth work and the dedication of youth workers across the UK.

The critical role of youth work in
supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing

Through three years of delivering Thriving Minds, we have a generated a huge amount of insight into the unique role that youth work plays in improving young people’s mental health and wellbeing outcomes.

Over the coming months, this web page will become a hub where we will share learnings and resources that we hope will be useful for your own work.

We will be sharing tools and resources that explore the varied roles that youth workers play; how to support youth workers’ own mental health literacy; and more specific insights about how youth organisations have built sustainable, successful partnerships to expand or extend their provision, support learning, or share resources. We will also be sharing wider sector insights, in addition to the learning that we are surfacing from the Thriving Minds Fund.

UK Youth partnered with Dartington Service Design Lab (Dartington) on a learning partnership to explore effective approaches to embedding sustainable youth work practices.

Through iterative research, the focus evolved to examine the unique role of youth work in greater depth. We conducted a series of interviews, workshops and secondary analysis to surface insights into the following three ‘Learning Questions’:

• Learning Question 1: What is the unique role of youth work in supporting young people’s mental health?
• Learning Question 2: What are the most engaging and effective ways to improve youth workers’ mental health literacy?
• Learning Question 3: What have been the most effective partnerships on Thriving Minds? What are the conditions that have enabled these?

Building on prior research and practice within and beyond the Thriving Minds Fund, the assumption was that youth work plays a distinct and essential role in supporting young people’s mental health. This role has gained significance in light of the increasing rates of reported adolescent mental health challenges, despite extensive efforts to address these issues (Foulkes, 2023; Pierce et al 2025) primarily through individually focused statutory interventions (Clarke et al, 2021; Evans et al., 2024).

Exploring this question provided an opportunity to investigate a different approach, one that emphasises community-focused answers and operates alongside traditional statutory services while supporting their efforts.

The insights gained from learning guided by these three questions paints a hopeful picture of the benefits of youth work.

Young people have stated that being part of youth work programmes and activities have:

1. Created a sense of community

“There is room for different types of people to be themselves.” (Young person, workshop, Northern England, 2024)

“I feel included, knowing there are people with similar experiences to you, it’s a weight off your back knowing it’s not just your struggle.” (Young person, workshop, Northern England, 2024)

“I am comfortable when (I’m) in the space, I liked coming after work or college, and it was nice to have a consistent and familiar space to come to.” (Young person, workshop, Southeast, 2024)

2. Improved young people’s ability to manage difficult experiences

“I have learned new coping skills, I now take steps back before reacting.” (Young person, workshop, Northern England, 2024)

“This is routine. It is something to look forward to and a good use of time.” (Young person, workshop, Northern England, 2024)

3. Helped young people build confidence in a supportive environment

 ”It pushes us and is caring.” (Young person, workshop, Northern England, 2024)

“I have gained confidence and conquered my social anxiety.” (Young person, workshop, Northern England, 2024)

“We can talk openly here, it is completely different to anywhere I’ve been and won’t find anywhere else.” (Young person, workshop, Southeast, 2024)

“The main thing of how we support young people’s mental health is the consistency of adults being in the room… we’ve created a really safe space for young people to come to and safe adults as well. I think that’s kind of the foundation of it.” (Youth worker, interview 2024)