Author: Maya Ljubojevic
What is a Thriving City Initiative?
A Thriving City Initiative (TCI) is an innovative, new strategy for improving mental health and wellbeing in urban areas. The concept, superficially, is not too dissimilar to other global city initiatives such as WHO Healthy Cities. There has been a movement towards an interest in the promotion of positive mental health and wellbeing alongside more traditional public health promotions. These public health initiatives take on mental health and wellbeing at a population scale, integrating with existing systems as well as setting their own goals and establishing new routes and strategies for better mental health and wellbeing in cities. They aim to improve the mental health and wellbeing of all in a place. This kind of strategy appears to strengthen support networks within and across urban communities and provide promotion and prevention interventions as well as supporting and signposting aspects of primary healthcare, particularly in the early stages. Evidence suggests that diversified, community-based mental health systems are superior to hospital-centred systems according to various outcomes (Wahlbeck, 2015).
Each TCI is unique - with an inconsistent overarching identity. The similarities broadly end with the name and overall aim to promote mental health and wellbeing. They cater the structure and ambitions to their own populations. All TCIs partner with communities, however how this is done differs. Thrive Balbriggan, the first Thrive Ireland location, appears to be taking a rather more grassroots approach than its predecessors.
Thrive in Balbriggan
Balbriggan is located within County Dublin, Ireland. In 2022, Balbriggan was both one of the more ethnically diverse towns and the youngest large town in Ireland, with an average age of 33.6.
Unlike the flagship ThriveNYC and many TCIs, Thrive Balbriggan started much more humbly; both in terms of size and structure. Balbriggan is, as one might assume, a little smaller than NYC with a population of around 21,000. Thrive Balbriggan has a minimal budget (in stark contrast to ThriveNYC’s $700+ million), and relies heavily on volunteers and buy-in from the community. It is supported and facilitated by Mental Health Ireland (MHI); however, the onus is almost entirely placed on the community - coproduced with MHI with the people of Balbriggan, for the people of Balbriggan.
My visit came as part of my research exploring how TCIs might contribute to improved wellbeing and mental health in cities through socio-spatial connections. I met passionate and hard-working volunteers who truly believe in Thrive. The difference between Thrive and other similar initiatives in the local area is largely down to its approach and structure. This likely stems from the overarching TCI values but also from its grassroots approach. Within MHI, the priorities are to strengthen mental health promotion and processes of recovery, embed coproduction, and improve inclusion and accessibility. Thrive Balbriggan aims to follow through on these priorities; coproducing with the community to create a system which works for them to promote good mental health and recovery. They aim to “build an understanding and awareness of mental health and wellbeing… by reducing stigma”. It facilitates mental health training and runs campaigns and projects such as the hello, how are you?, the great places and spaces map, and Thrive n’ Conversations. The method taken by Thrive Balbriggan has its strengths. With a national volunteer award obtained in late 2023, and a further nomination for a mental health initiative award, it seems to have made a good impression so far. There are plans to introduce Thrive elsewhere in Ireland.
Nevertheless, implementation faces challenges. The longer-term challenges of improving the mental health and wellbeing of the town include securing long-term funding and relevant resources, membership growth, wider awareness of Thrive, and the availability and number of volunteers for projects. As with other Thrive initiatives, evaluation and proving direct relationships to positive health and wellbeing outcomes is difficult.
So how can we evaluate interventions which share a name but have diverse contextual needs, strategies, and resources? The downfall of Thrive NYC and similar initiatives has arguably been the difficulty to translate these to tangible mental health benefits and outcomes for the population. There is currently little literature on these TCIs and if we compare to similar international, urban public health initiatives; the same approach to exploration and evaluation is not as feasible due to the inconsistent identity across locations. Thus, my PhD has taken on an exploratory focus to provide a springboard for future evaluative study of Thrive. I have focussed on a pressing mental health issue - loneliness - and exploring how TCIs approach and impact this through facilitation or implementation of socio-spatial connections. Thrive Edinburgh and Thrive Balbriggan, with contrasting style and structure, make for good case studies. The research will explore the perceptions and experiences of the population regarding mental health and loneliness through photovoice and use key informant interviews with those involved with Thrive. This will serve two purposes: to provide information for the public on Thrive from an academic perspective, and to help inform Thrive initiatives on what the public may want or need from them. This should hopefully result in the creation of knowledge and understanding of the novel initiatives and provide productive information which may benefit urban populations.
My visit to Ireland was incredibly insightful. MHI were such generous hosts. During my stay, I was around for the launch of the Thrive Balbriggan Leaflet, the Galway Mental Health Association 40th Anniversary Conference, and the ‘great places and spaces wellbeing map’. Given my plans to use a combination of GIS and photovoice to explore wellbeing, this piqued my interest. It also coincides with Thrive Edinburgh’s Thrive Line - improving socio-spatial connections in Edinburgh.
A thriving network
The professional connection with Thrive Balbriggan persists. The links between my PhD, Thrive Balbriggan, and Thrive Edinburgh have already been productive with knowledge exchanges occurring in late 2023 and future meetings between Thrive Initiatives planned. I hope my PhD will have a lasting impact on TCIs and help establish a working, productive, and connected Thriving Cities Network. I hope to see if Thrive Balbriggan, alongside its peers, will live up to its namesake and continue to thrive both here and elsewhere in Ireland.