Experienced in helping clients to grow their businesses, long-time collaborators, Anwen Cooper and Dan Corpe recognised a need for a sustained, holistic approach to promoting mental health..

Determined to be a force for good and make a meaningful, ongoing difference to wellbeing in the workplace and the world they co-founded Thrivall.

Here they tell us why the Maidstone Innovation Centre is the perfect base for Thrivall’s work to create happier, healthier and more productive organisations.

You’ve worked together before – tell us how that came about?

Dan: We both run our own separate businesses – Anwen’s is Get Fruitful Marketing,  marketing strategy and business growth and I run Corpe Consulting, a relationship building and business growth consultancy. We met early on in our business journey, as we worked with similar clients and often referred work to each other.

Five or six years ago, we both became ambassadors for the Institute of Directors (IOD) and ran some really successful events that connected start-ups with established businesses, as part of the IoD99, a section created to support start-ups . We then decided to take it under our own banner – Bright Minds in Business –  a programme of networking events and online webinars. We’d organise the speakers and before the event we would record an interview with them and put them online – it was fascinating to do and the feedback from the events was glowing!

How did you come to form Thrivall?

Dan: One thing that we realised from Bright Minds in Business is that business can be a force for good and this is something that was really championed by Anwen. In particular, we found we were often talking about mental health and leadership, and how business can be better.

It spurred me to do a 12 month academic counselling course and this is where I discovered ‘proactive counselling.’ The idea is that counselling doesn’t just have to be for when someone is in crisis – it can be useful for people just dealing with day to day life, the ‘human struggle’.  I took the idea to Anwen and said ‘wouldn’t it be great to deliver this in businesses’ and she very kindly humoured me!

Tell us about how Thrivall helps businesses?

Anwen: Thrivall is a proactive corporate mental health and wellbeing programme to support people to excel in the workplace. It’s about engaging the whole team and helping them to thrive. It’s a structured 12 month rolling programme, involving ongoing benchmarking and monitoring of wellbeing and colleague engagement. We bring in experts to provide group training. Also, our accredited counsellor coaches offer one-to-one ‘check-in’ sessions which colleagues can use as they wish; to talk about issues at home, finances, family etc, or where they’re looking to excel and discuss more positive things.

For the group training we use the government researched/backed 5 Steps to Wellbeing as our framework, this focuses on helping people 1) create more meaning and purpose in life, 2) develop better social connection and improve communication skills, 3) grow, learn and move forward in life, and we will be including financial health as part of this, 4) improve their physical health and 5) become more mindful and grateful. The idea is that it’s preventative rather than reactive.

Statistics show 1 in 10 people is in crisis right now – so in an average team, at least one person will be in crisis at any one time. Lots of businesses offer short term intervention. But in that scenario, we can offer an additional support package, and refer people on for more intensive ongoing support.  

Dan: We’re really passionate about the fact that all our tools and techniques are grounded in science and evidence-based. It’s not about ‘a bit of counselling here, some yoga over there.’ It’s about sustained support, not a tick box exercise. When everyone feels looked after, the whole culture improves –  leaders are enhanced, skillsets are better, colleagues are more resilient with better ‘bouncebackability’, sickness levels fall, recruitment becomes easier and you retain top talent.

Why did you choose to base your business at the MIC?

Anwen: We’d known about the MIC for a while, and Dan had been working here with a Corpe Consulting client, IT Desk. We thought it would be a great base for us as we’re linked to the healthcare sector and it’s a beautiful place to have an office. Also, being around like-minded people makes you feel supported. We’re excited about the prospect of connecting with other tenants and exploring collaborations.

Dan: I sometimes do ‘visioning exercises’ and I remember a few months back, in February, creating this vision of Anwen, me and a team working at the MIC. Soon after, Anwen suggested we consider the MIC. By the 1^st May we’d moved into an office that I thought was a couple of years away! It’s the perfect location for promoting the idea of good mental health – it’s an area of outstanding natural beauty, and it’s really quiet with just the sound of bird song outside.

The support here is fantastic. Sophie (MIC Co-ordinator) is genuinely interested and connects and supports people 100%. She and Marina (MIC Executive Assistant) have been wonderful. They signposted us to Graham Hutchins at NCL (providers of the South East Innovation Programme). We were eligible to receive funding to attend a two day business support workshop all about getting investment-ready. Even though we both already run businesses and have an understanding of investment, the course was really useful to gain a deeper understanding of it and from Venture Capital investors right at the coal face.

It’s early days for Thrivall but what are your ambitions for the business?

Anwen: We’re looking forward to building our team. We’re bringing in expertise from therapy and counselling to create an advisory board of experts, that we will be accountable to. We really want to make an impact in the world of wellbeing and transform the way employee and colleague care is delivered.

Dan: We’ve also got some amazing matchmaking tech planned. We don’t think the current offering of having one counsellor available to an organisation and hoping they get on with everyone works. Our technology involves some AI that works out which counsellor best matches an individual employee. Built into that will be the ability to do daily check-ins and a mood tracker…it’s all much further down the line, but it’s exciting stuff!

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