1981

Founded
As the Juvenile Treatment Unit. Groups for juveniles in trouble aged 10-16½ years run by volunteers under the guidance of a group leader who was either a Probation Officer or Social Worker.

1984

Charity registration
As the Juvenile Support Agency. Continues to work in same way but at some stage numbers start to decline until charity is moribund.

1991/92

Turn-around.
A new project leader is recruited as a turn-around agent. There were 3 layers of management but only 2 children attending regularly! The JSA is resuscitated and refocused on children 8-14 yrs.

1992/93

Evaluation
Existing work is evaluated and considered good but not cost effective.
Parents request earlier intervention. “Nobody wants to know till it’s too late!”

1994/95

Innovation
1:1 sessions introduced. Evening sessions held using trained volunteers.

1995/96

Requests from Schools
1:1 work piloted in 2 schools in Newark and Sherwood. Ages 8-11yrs.

1996/97

Governance changes and expansion
Charity changes its name to Think Children and a new constitution no longer restricts us to just working in Newark and Sherwood. The service extends into 7 schools.

1998/99

Reviewed by Social Services
Given a glowing report. “There is nothing else offered to equal this service”.

Expansion
Initiate work in Mansfield.

1999/00

Expansion
Initiate work in Ashfield and the City of Nottingham.

2001/02

Expansion and accreditation
Initiate work in Bassetlaw.
Our training is accredited with North East Midlands Open College Network.

2005/06

Additional Projects – Drop Ins
Drop in sessions for children piloted in one City school and one Ashfield school.

2007/08

Commissioned by North Notts CAMHS
To provide early intervention work.

2009/10

New website developed

2010/11

Recession starts to bite
Statutory Funding cuts result in loss of CAMHs funding.

2011/12

Launch of a new business model
Schools contribute towards the cost of service delivery.
Think Children becomes incorporated as a charitable company.
Held inaugural conference.

2012/13

Review of Governance and Management
Completed level 1 PQASSO, working towards level 2.

2013/14

Social media introduced as a marketing tool
Twitter and Facebook accounts created.
Rebranding and website update.

2014/15

Expand the expertise of our Board
New members recruited, including Directors with legal and financial backgrounds.

2015/16

New collaborative partnership
Think Children set up collaborative fundraising partnership ‘Newark and Sherwood Children’s Charities Group’ with three other local children’s charities.

2016/17

Local Stars become Think Children Patrons
Think Children Welcomes Olympic Star Shona McCallin MBE and Local Professional Football player Patrick Bamford as new Charity Patrons.
Corporate sponsorship campaigns and the collaboration’s first large annual summer fundraising event, ‘Bail Out 2016’, bring new income streams for the charity and enhance profile.

2017/18

Focus on sustainability and growth
Engagement with capacity-building charity, Pilotlight, to strengthen Think Children in order to ensure sustainability and growth in a challenging climate.

2018/19

Achieve external accreditation
PQASSO quality kite mark level 1 achieved. PQASSO covers all aspects of an organisation’s work including governance, planning, leadership and management, managing people, managing money and outcomes and impact.
Gaining this kite mark demonstrates that Think Children comply with current legal and regulatory requirements which is reassuring to existing and potential funders.

2019/20

Logo & website upgrade – recruit volunteers
Refurbish logo and website. It was time to freshen up the colours and use a more modern design. New website launched. This was enabled by recruiting two volunteers, one for social media and one for website.

2020/21

COVID-19 and Think Children
The big story of 2020 globally was COVID-19 and like almost all businesses Think Children was impacted. Government restrictions that for the first time since 1996 Think Children was unable to deliver its service into Primary schools and staff were forced to work from home. We later received notice to vacate our rented office of 40 years so took the decision to run a virtual registered office and move staff to Home working contracts. A storage facility was sourced should we return to office based working in the future.

New Honorary Clinical Consultant
Elizabeth Ferreira BSc (Hons), DClinPsy a NHS Clinical Psychologist who has 15 years’ experience of working within CAMHS services was appointed our new honorary clinical consultant.

2021/22

External Accreditation Renewed with NCVO
Think Children was awarded the nationally recognised, externally verified, Trusted Charities Mark. Achieving the mark reassures our service users and funders of the quality and credibility of our Charity.

Emotional Well Being Facilitators upskilled – our fieldworkers received comprehensive training in covid related issues enabling them to support disadvantaged children/families with more complex and distressing issues as a result of the coronavirus.