— Children and Young People and Lived Experience Leadership
Summary
This article refers to the Global Shapers Community which is a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change. With community organizations and people who are experts by experience, the Global Shapers continue to drive the mental health movement through their incredible campaigning activity and formidable drive and will develop innovative mental health programmes in their own parts of the world.
About
Exploring the different ways that young people with lived experience of mental health challenges can influence decisions about what is researched and how, to find the best ways to enable them to lead on mental health research and innovation from the start.
Wellcome’s Mental Health Challenge Area funds and supports research to transform the way we understand, prevent, and treat anxiety, depression, and psychosis in young people.
If we are trying to find new interventions, it goes without saying that we should work alongside people with lived experience expertise to make this happen. However, we know that young people are most likely to be involved in the later stages of research, such as data collection, but less likely to be involved in setting the agenda by deciding which concerns should get the most attention, or identifying research questions.
Our hope is that by increasing our understanding of how young people with lived experience can influence decisions early in the research process (especially in agenda setting) and what needs to change to make that happen, then we can foster research and innovation that better aligns with their needs and experiences.
We are currently working with Science Practice to explore how people aged 14–24 with lived experience of anxiety, depression, or psychosis can shape mental health research and innovation in its earliest stages, before projects start, by contributing to decisions such as:
- Which topics need research or innovation?
- Which projects should get grant funding?
- Which methods should a project use?
- How should researchers and innovators work with young people throughout a project?
To explore how we could help open up these opportunities, we are currently speaking with key stakeholders in India, Uganda, and the UK.
About
This panel is part of a programme of partnership work between NSUN and Mind, including our project on mapping what is known as “Lived Experience Leadership”. Shown at the Youth Lived Experience Activism Panel - NSUN AGM 2020
Chair: Amy Wells Panellists: Denise Brown (4 Young Minds), Liv Wynter (artist/Hearts and Minds), and Rosie Tressler (Student Minds).
Summary
The mental health system is failing young people. So we’re leading our own movement – demanding our rights to a healthy mind and a brighter future.
The Our Minds Our Future Manifesto outlines our vision for a rights-respecting mental health system in England. It’s part of a project that’s engaging young people in every nation of the UK to speak out on what they want mental health services to look like where they are. The manifesto was produced by young people who are part of Make Our Rights Reality, a movement of young people who know their rights and how to fight for them. Our team is made up of local groups of ‘Rights Advocates’ across the country who fight for their rights locally, and the staff team at the national charity Youth Access who deliver on strategy laid out by young people.
Through the Our Minds Our Future campaign, we’re standing up for young people’s right to access mental health support in their communities – support that meets their specific needs and sees them as whole individuals, not just a diagnosis to be filed.
About
A UK website, Mental Health Foundation (MHF) Young Leaders enables young people to work in partnership with a leading mental health charity to make a real difference to young people’s mental health.
The MHF Young Leaders project aims to enable young people work in the areas of:
- Co-Design
- Engaging with research relating to mental health, and develop ideas for communications and programmes to reach other young people.
- Peer Research
- Future Development, active involvement in evaluation of the project’s progress and develop plans for its future