Minnesota Thrives
Share your ideas for wellbeing.
Minnesota Thrives is an interactive database built by people like you, spotlighting successful initiatives that promote mental wellbeing in Minnesota. There is no single magic solution to being healthy. Share, learn, and grow from others doing amazing work to strengthen the resiliency for everyone in your community.
| Submit an Entry | Explore the Database |
Any project, program, practice, policy effort, training series, communications campaign, community coalition, community process or other activity that contributes to mental wellbeing and thriving communities in Minnesota could be included in the Minnesota Thrives database.
Examples of ideas
- New coalition to address social connectedness in County XYZ, MN. The first activity is to host community conversations about social isolation and connectedness.
- Implementing Restorative Justice program and practices in all schools in the district.
- Developing new policies around healthy relationships with technology in local high schools.
- Community conversation series - hosting community conversations about mental wellbeing and belonging.
- Trauma-informed care practices - organization began with a trauma-informed care assessment and has been implementing steps to improve approach to trauma with clients and community. Started with employee gratitude practices to build a culture of support.
- Youth clubs for children of incarcerated parents to share experiences and create expressions.
Please only include initiatives and locations that are in progress or have been implemented. This database is intended to capture current or recent work. It is not intended as a tool to market services that are available anywhere in the state. Share your wellbeing initiative.
How to submit
Download the MN Thrive Survey Form (PDF) to prepare your response, then complete the online survey.
- Please only include Minnesota initiatives and locations that are in progress or have been implemented.
- Ideas that have been implemented in one or more communities can be shared. Simply note the locations in the description.
- This database is intended to capture current or recent work. It is not intended as a tool to market services that are available anywhere in the state.
The Minnesota Thrives background
Minnesota Thrives is intended to be a living resource that provides a comprehensive picture of mental health promotion strategies in Minnesota that helps communities by:
- Creating a comprehensive picture of current mental wellbeing strategies, locally and statewide, to inform and guide planning efforts.
- Actively connect and learn from each other.
- Growing and spreading mental wellbeing strategies across communities and sectors.
Guiding values of this project.
- Public health approach to mental health: The emphasis of this database is on upstream promotion and prevention strategies for mental wellbeing and resilience, rather than direct clinical services.
- Broad set of strategies: Creating mental wellbeing and thriving communities is complex, involving many factors. Many key activity categories are broadly outlined in this Framework for Mental Health Promotion (PDF).
- Innovative to evidence-based: MN Thrives is intended for all types of activities, including innovative, evidence-based practices, research-informed, culturally informed, and strategies based on community wisdom and those with key lived experiences. Innovative and community-informed practices build community capacity, are often essential to help make other programming possible, and may provide opportunities to build evidence in a real-world setting.
- Collaborative learning: Shared learning across communities as we all address mental well-being and resilience is critical. This includes learning about the incremental steps to promote mental wellbeing and about what did not work. It is intended to capture projects and initiatives at different phases to deepen our learning.
- Equity and inclusion: Community mental wellbeing requires devoted attention to equity and inclusion. MN Thrives intends to elevate analysis of and investment in strategies based on equity and inclusion.
Move Mindfully uses Minnesota Thrives to promote community mental wellness.
LiveMore ScreenLess uses Minnesota Thrives to promote digital wellbeing.
What do we mean by mental health and wellbeing?
Ways to use Minnesota Thrives.
- Use the tool to inform a needs assessment, to identify potential gaps in your community by the type of strategy, the population, the sector, or the outcome measures.
- Get ideas and insights about strategies to address mental well-being, resilience and thriving communities.
- Search for strategies based on specific aspect of well-being (e.g., social connectedness), or a specific population (e.g., LGBTQ).
- Identify potential partners or organizations to consult. See how people are talking about and utilizing evidence.
- Identify what outcome measures and funding ideas others are using. Identify for funders how unique or common your strategy is statewide.
Help promote Minnesota Thrives.
If your objective is to create a thriving community or to promote mental wellbeing and resilience, Minnesota Thrives can be a valuable resource. If you are doing work that promotes wellbeing in your community, your contribution will add important knowledge to this social challenge.
- Submit an entry
- Refer an initiative - MDH will reach out
- Personally invite others to submit entries
- Host a presentation about Minnesota Thrives
- Email this announcement to your network
- Share on social media
- Note it in your newsletter
- Introduce it to your coalition
- Host a mapping session
- Share with local media
- Connect with an initiative listed in the Minnesota Thrives database to learn more. (And don’t forget to tell them you found them on Minnesota Thrives!)
Questions
Email health.mch@state.mn.us or call 651-201-3650.