What is Five to Thrive
Five to Thrive is a model which enables us to notice what goes on in interactions between people.
Five to Thrive is an approach which enables us to be a meeter-of-needs in our interactions with other people. As humans, people need people.
Five to Thrive is a framework which enables us to teach others about the part they play in brain development
Many things can get in the way of connected relationships between people such as illness, disability, pain or stress, physical or mental illness, domestic violence, substance misuse etc.
The Building Blocks - The Neurological Sequence
When we read the blocks from bottom to top, it explains the neurological sequence our brain goes through when we can offer co-regulation to others.
Five to Thrive is part of our normal behaviour as long as we're feeling regulated, grounded, and resilient enough.
We are not telling people what to do because we are already being Five to Thrive by virtue of being human, but as with anything the more we understand it, and notice how we behave (or parent) on our best days, then the more we will feel inspired to do it again.
It's also important to recognise when we ourselves need support and who can help us when we notice our own tower may not feel as stable as usual. We're not able to help co-regulate other people if we're feeling dis-regulated. The five ways to good wellbeing idea can help with this.
Ask yourself these questions to build your own support network when your batteries need a boost
RESPOND - Who responds to you when you feel anxious or unsafe?
ENGAGE - Who is good at engaging with you?
RELAX - Who co-regulates with you?
PLAY - Whose playfulness helps your brain to work?
TALK - Whose narrative helps you make sense of things?
The Building Blocks - Activities
Along with the neurological sequence supporting self/co regulation, the building blocks can also be used to describe activities a family can do at home. Each block has brain building potential.
Training Videos - How Five to Thrive can be used throughout the ages 0-25
Baby
Toddler
Primary School
Secondary School
Neurodiverse Young Adult
Downloadable Resources
Parent Journal - A handy guide for parents to track their Five to Thrive Journey
Five to Thrive insert for Red Book (Personal healthcare book)
Teen Journal - To use with older children to help them recognise the building blocks and which maybe missing
Make your own building blocks
Five to Thrive Drop Cards - handy quotes, key features of each block and images
How Five to Thrive works for ALL job roles
Five to Thrive has helped parents break down their interactions with their children and helped them step back and reflect on their parenting style and how to approach a child. It has also helped them to understand how they need to be balanced within themselves to be able to give their full support to their child.
It has given families the understanding of importance of all the different blocks individually of how to support their babies brain to develop to its fullest potential. It has also helped to support them with play ideas to develop their babies brain and recognise its things they are already doing.
Five to Thrive is a peg within the pathway and its integrated throughout the whole 2 years through play and setting up a range of activities that support babies brain development but it is also about the interactions parents have with their babies and interactions they have with other parents and practitioners.
Emily - Family Wellbeing Worker, LCC
As a CSA in Family Hubs, the Five to Thrive model comes in to play when we have any interaction with users of our buildings. People come into our Hubs from a range of backgrounds and for many different reasons.
One common thing we might see are parents that feel nervous or anxious about attending a group such as 0-2 Pathway for the first time. As a CSA we recognise the need for co-regulation so they feel supported and valued.
I'd REPOND in a welcoming way, ENGAGE with eye contact for reassurance, RELAX by staying calm and making the environment peaceful, be PLAYFUL by being friendly and TALK with them so they feel comfortable
Lucy, Centre Support Assistant Family Hubs LeicestershireIf you'd like to share how Five to Thrive has supported either yourself, child, family, group you've been working with please email familyhubs@leics.gov.uk
Communication
Social Media
Here is an example of a 7 day Facebook comms plan to introduce the building blocks to families. The images used were from the downloadable drop card and images from the Five to Thrive page
Best Practice Ideas
Group Work for 0-5
Here's a 3 week session plan (can merge together if the session is long enough) if you were running a Five to Thrive group like a parent class or pathway
Activities
Cut out these quotes and mix them up. Ask your parent/family/group/colleague to say which block they correspond with.
