Health Service

Wellbeing and mental health in foster care is a key priority for TACT. Our dedicated Health Service has been created to ensure our children and young people can have access to mental health services at the point when they’re identified as being needed.

We recognised that children and young people cared for by TACT were experiencing significant inequalities in relation to accessing appropriate and timely mental health support. There were reports of children waiting 3 years for specialist interventions, along with inconsistent approaches and thresholds from NHS funded provisions. TACT recognised the need to facilitate access to a range of services which also offered direct and indirect therapeutic interventions for children.

TACT’s Health Service provision is overseen by Mechelle Holley, Health Commissioning and Performance Manager.

What our Health Service Provides:

Access to fully qualified and registered professionals working across a range of psychological, mental health and wellbeing services.
Assessments: conducted by fully qualified professionals, focusing on psychological assessment and formulation designed to provide an understanding of children and young people’s behaviours and presentations. Following an assessment, recommendations are made which are likely to include offering tangible strategies to support achievement of outcomes and identifying any ongoing therapeutic needs or interventions. Diagnostic assessments are also available for needs such as neurodivergence, learning disabilities and mental health.
Therapeutic interventions: access to a range of regulated therapeutic interventions, delivered by professionals working in the psychological and mental health field. Therapy can be delivered directly to children and young people or indirectly through foster carers where children are not in a position to consent to engaging in therapy.
Wellbeing interventions: access to a range of interventions designed to improve and enhance the wellbeing of children and young people. This includes interventions which would be considered therapeutic in nature, such as animal assisted therapy or counselling, but are not classed as ‘regulated’ therapy. These interventions can be delivered directly to children and young people or to carers and professionals.
Advocacy & second opinion: access to professionals who can support our children and young people to have their voices heard in health-related care planning. This includes elements such as challenging NHS decisions to not pursue a diagnosis or offer therapeutic interventions when the team around the child identifies this need.
Consultation: access to specialist and qualified professionals who can provide reflective spaces for consultation to foster carers and the child or young person’s professional network. These sessions are designed to support the network around a child to respond to identified needs or mental health and wellbeing difficulties through a trauma informed lens.

Mechelle is our Health Commissioning and Performance Manager, helping to ensure mental health in foster care at TACT

“We know that children looked after need timely access to specialist mental health support – but pressures across the NHS often mean waiting far too long. This not only delays essential help but increases the risks of instability in children’s lives. I’m excited to work for an organisation that is creating innovative solutions to help close this gap, ensuring children and the people who care for them feel supported when it matters most.”

Mechelle Holley, TACT’s Health Commissioning and Performance Manager

What is our vision for wellbeing and mental health in foster care?

Our aim is to provide a service that ensures access to the right therapeutic assessment or interventions at the right time, to help support the achievement of children’s outcomes and improve stability in fostering. We want young people to feel safe and supported, and to therapeutically explore their individual stories and journeys should it be a benefit to their wellbeing and mental health in foster care.

We want our foster carers to feel adequately supported to understand, and respond to, the unique therapeutic needs of children and young people they provide care for – with access to appropriate and qualified professionals where necessary.

We would like to introduce an array of services which support and enhance the psychological, mental health and wellbeing offer from NHS trusts and local authorities.

Partnering with TACT

In October 2025 TACT launched an innovative framework contract, for the delivery of psychological, mental health and wellbeing services.

We chose this model over developing internal provisions to ensure that we can provide our children, young people and foster carers with timely access to a range of services and practitioners working in the psychological, mental health and wellbeing sectors. This means we can offer a tailored approach to children and young people when it’s needed, supporting timely access to provisions from suppliers who we trust will deliver high quality services. The framework has been left open for new suppliers to join during the life of the contract. If you’re a supplier of psychological, mental health or wellbeing services for children and are interested in partnering with TACT please visit our Health Service Framework Agreement page for more information about the specification, terms and conditions and details on how to apply.