SUPPORTING FAMILIES
Think Family - Whole Family
Seeing the individual. Understanding the family. Strengthening the future.
PHILOSOPHY
«Mental health never exists in isolation. Supporting an individual often requires understanding the wider family context.»
Every person lives within a network of relationships. Parents influence children, children influence parents, partners influence one another, and families shape the way mental health develops, is understood and experienced. Supporting an individual therefore often requires understanding the wider family context.
Think Family – Whole Family is an evidence-informed clinical and organisational framework developed through more than a decade of clinical practice, research, implementation and collaboration across health, education and social care.
Originally developed to improve outcomes for families affected by parental mental illness, the programme has evolved into a broader way of thinking about mental health that places relationships, communication, development and prevention at the centre of care.
Rather than focusing only on symptoms or diagnoses, the approach asks wider questions:
- Who are the important relationships around this person?
- How does one person's mental health affect the whole family?
- What strengths already exist within the family?
- What opportunities exist for prevention and early intervention?
- How can professionals work collaboratively across services to achieve better outcomes?
The programme combines psychiatry, psychodynamic psychotherapy, attachment theory, developmental psychology, safeguarding and systems thinking into a practical framework that can be applied across clinical services, schools and multi-agency settings.
Over the past decade, Think Family – Whole Family has informed clinical practice, professional training, organisational development, research, policy, service redesign and workforce development.
At its heart, however, Think Family – Whole Family is not simply a programme or a training package.
It is a different way of thinking.
A way of recognising that supporting one person can strengthen an entire family, and that healthier families create healthier communities.
Over a decade of work
Developed through research, clinical practice and implementation, in collaboration across health, education and social care.
A growing evidence base
Peer-reviewed publications, policy papers and international presentations on family-focused mental healthcare.
From individuals to systems
Training, supervision and organisational change that embed family-sensitive thinking into everyday practice.
Research & Evidence
Exploring how parental mental illness affects family relationships and child development, building an evidence base for family-focused care.
Training & Workforce Development
Supporting professionals to move beyond individual-focused models of care towards relationship-based, family-sensitive practice.
Implementation & Systems Change
Helping organisations embed family-sensitive thinking into everyday practice through leadership and service redesign.
Publications & Resources
Implementation resources and policy work making evidence accessible for professionals and organisations.
Supervision & Consultation
Reflective practice and supervision for professionals and teams to explore complex clinical situations and sustain wellbeing.