Trust and community partner work together to co-create better mental health services
Date added: 29 April 2026
Last updated: 29 April 2026
Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust and WeThriveTogether CIC have joined forces to co-create mental health services with local communities, aiming to reduce health inequalities and improve access to support across Kent and Medway.
Hayley Mason, Community Engagement and Involvement Lead at Kent & Medway Mental Health NHS Trust said: “We are pleased to welcome Florence and the WeThriveTogether team as a co-creation partner. This partnership will help us design services and plans with the people who use them, and with the communities we serve. It is an important step in building trust and making lasting change.”
The trust provides mental health services for people of all ages across Kent and Medway, including community support, inpatient care and specialist services. Through this new partnership, it aims to better understand and respond to the needs of local communities, ensuring services are shaped by the people who use them.
WeThriveTogether CIC is a community-led public health initiative that works with underserved communities to improve health and wellbeing through outreach and community-led activity. The organisation focuses on reducing health inequalities and helping people access the support they need.
The partnership follows WeThriveTogether’s first Kent & Medway Black Health Inequalities Summit held last month and builds on a shared commitment to involve communities in shaping services from the very beginning.
By signing the trust’s Co-Creation Community Partnership Pledge, both organisations have agreed to work together as equal partners. This means people with lived experience of mental health will help guide decisions, influence service design, and support improvements.
Florence Arewa, Founder of WeThriveTogether CIC said: “Co-creation means people are involved from the start, not asked at the end. We’re proud to work with the trust to reduce inequalities and make sure support reflects what communities in Kent and Medway need.”
Together, the trust and WeThriveTogether CIC will work with local people at every stage, from early ideas through to how services are planned and delivered in practice. This includes listening to different community voices, understanding barriers to accessing support, and developing solutions together.
This partnership is an important step towards more inclusive, accessible mental health care, shaped by the people and communities it serves.
