Thinking Allowed

We work with children
in care
and adopted children

We often work
alongside locality
CAMHS

Thinking Allowed is
Bristol based.
Thinking Aloud is South Gloucestershire based

Bristol

What we do

We are here to support the emotional health and wellbeing of young people in care with a Bristol or South Gloucestershire social worker.

Our two organisations are called Thinking Allowed (Bristol) and Thinking Aloud (South Gloucestershire). Together, we are known as TA.

At TA, we believe that a young person’s mental health and emotional wellbeing will flourish if all the adults around them work together to understand how best to support them. We work towards this goal with all the adults who are already involved in the young person’s life.

Although most of our work is with the adults, we help find the right services for young people which could be in CAMHS or another organisation, and we sometimes see young people ourselves.

We also have a specialist clinic for young people who have come to the UK seeking safety and asylum, are in care and have a Bristol or South Gloucestershire social worker. This is called the Asylum-seeking and Refugee Clinic (ARC). Find out more on the ARC page here.

We are very proud to receive recognition for the work we are passionate about. In 2018, the CQC (Care Quality Commission) described TA and the services for young people seeking asylum as “examples of outstanding practice”.

We offer services to all the adults caring for young people from birth to 18 years who are in care. This might include social workers, teachers and foster carers. We also offer some services and support to the children and young people themselves.

Our support covers young people with a social worker in South Gloucestershire who should be referred to Thinking Aloud, and young people with a social worker in Bristol who should be referred to Thinking Allowed.

We will always consider referrals no matter where a young person lives. We ‘triage’ referrals which means that we decide if and how we can help someone who’s been referred to us.

Adults – what to expect

We invite adults to a first assessment appointment to think about their young person. This lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.
Any other adults who are important in the young person’s life are welcome to join.
One of our clinicians will meet with you to discuss the important events in your young person’s life. This will help adults to understand the impact these have had on the young person.
From this shared understanding, we develop a care plan which will be sent out following the appointment.
After this, we might hold regular meetings with the adults.
We offer a range of training courses to the adults who work with and care for the young person.

Young people – what to expect

We would love to know what’s important to you, so we will invite you to your own first assessment appointment where you can tell us at your own pace. You do not have to come along – it’s always your choice.
If we have agreed that we might be the best people to support you, we will discuss this with you and record it in your care plan. We will then offer you more sessions. You can either be in these on your own or choose an adult involved in your life to be there with you.
In these sessions, we will listen to you. You might want to talk about what’s happened to you, but you can choose not to.
From the sessions, we aim to help you understand the story of who you are, what has happened to you, and give you the best skills to reach where you want to be.

Where you will have your appointment

Your TA appointments can take place at different locations, including:

one of our main bases, either Barton Hill or the Kingswood Hub, Alma Road, Kingswood, BS15 4DA.
online in a secure video call using free and easy-to-use software.
in your school.
at your home.

To refer a young person, please use one of the following referral forms:

Bristol TA referral - complete and e-mail to sirch.singlepointofentry@nhs.net
South Gloucestershire TA referral - complete and e-mail to awp.thinkingaloudsouthgloucestershire@nhs.net

Once we have received a form, we ‘triage’ the young person and use the details we have from the referral to decide the best possible approach to help them.

Our main bases are detailed below, and we can also meet people for appointments and assessments at other locations.

Thinking Aloud

Badminton Road Council Offices, Badminton Road, Yate BS37 5AF (admin address only)

Kingswood Hub, Alma Road, Kingswood, BS15 4DA (where we have many of our appointments)
Phone: 01454 866095
Email: awp.thinkingaloudsouthgloucestershire@nhs.net