five to thrive
The approach
The success of five to thrive is founded on the fact that it is not a rigid, one-size-fits-all programme. Rather, an array of resources, tools and training content is available to help tailor a strategy that best fits with local needs and aims.
Central to the five to thrive approach is the set of five key activities:
Respond · Engage · Relax · Play · Talk
These are our ‘building blocks for a healthy brain’. They are drawn from research into the key processes of attachment and attunement that forge bonds between young children and their carers. Crucially, they are designed to support positive feedback processes, enabling practitioners to observe and reinforce positive interaction between adults and children.
The five to thrive activities also describe the way in which human connectedness all through our lives keeps our brains working well. Young humans need connected relationships to build healthy brains, and all humans need connected relationships to maintain healthy brains. The five to thrive resources - printed, online and digital guides, posters and other tools - help parents and practitioners gain an appropriate awareness of the science of brain development while ensuring that the focus remains practical rather than academic. They support creative and individualised ways of meeting the needs of children at different ages and adults in our communities.
Our range of face to face and online learning pathways ensure that practitioners fully understand the science behind the messages and are confident in using five to thrive in their work. Our teaching and learning pathways are developed in collaboration with our commissioners and cater for large groups of multi-agency professionals as well as smaller more focused learning sets for ongoing reflective work; this ensures the knowledge base can be confidently applied to practice and have maximum, sustained impact.
For more information on five to thrive training and resources, or to discuss how the programme could be useful in your work, please call KCA on 01453 488400 or visit our website .
