The Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Collaborative of the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership held its first ICS wide Children and Young People’s Coproduction event called Nothing About Us Without Us in York on the 19th of December 2022.
The event brought together children and young people as well as engagement and coproduction leads from Health, Local Authorities and VCS from across all 6 places in our ICS (North Yorkshire, York, East Riding, Hull, North and North East Lincolnshire).
The aim of the event was to begin to establish a Humber and North Yorkshire wide network of children and young people’s engagement and co-production leads to maximise capacity and reduce duplication which builds on and compliments existing place-based activity. It also aimed to recruit a team of young volunteers with lived experience from across the ICS geography, who will act as advisory groups to relevant mental health and trauma informed steering groups.
The event was well attended by 65 staff and young people with workshops for both to develop a plan moving forward. Clair Atherton, Children and Young People’s Engagement and Coproduction Manager, who organised the event said:
“I’m over the moon with how the event went. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended. I’m so grateful to have had so much brilliant engagement from so many young people and partners, with such a will to work together to improve the lives of children and young people across Humber and North Yorkshire. I’m excited to continue the conversations in the new year and start actioning the plans we collectively agreed.”
Attendees heard from Young Minds, who presented on the national picture, and the Humber and North Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Mental Health Programme Lead on the ICS wide Children and Young People’s Mental Health plan.
They also had a presentation from Ryan and Aimee, two young people with lived experience who helped organise the event and will be part of the CYP advisory group moving forward
At the end of the event the young people presented their priorities for improving mental health services for children and young people which will be integrated into our workplan and be a focus of the work of the advisory group moving forward.
Comments from young people and professional who attended the event were:
- “It was an amazing experience not only as a young person, but to see so many professionals listening to a group of young people.”
- “What I liked about this was that young people were included from the very beginning because that doesn’t usually happen. I’m involved in different groups, and we only ever get invited to be involved once the professionals have already decided what they want. It’s exciting to be involved like this and I look forward to our next meeting.”
- “I found the event useful and a great opportunity to hear young people’s voices around mental health services and how we can all as professionals move forward. It was a springboard for us all to start really working together and improving mental health services for our young people. It was also a great opportunity for us as professionals to link up work that we’re already working on”.
- “It was an absolute pleasure to participate in the Nothing About Us Without Us event. It was engaging, thought provoking and inspiring and the amazing attendance figures, from both young people and professionals, demonstrate the commitment to participation in the ICS. I’m excited to take the next steps on this project and work with people who are so passionate and dedicated to ensuring young people are an integral part of service development and improvement.”
If you work with young people who would like to be involved in the children and young people’s mental health advisory group moving forward or if you would like to be part of the professional’s network, then please contact Clair.atherton@nhs.net for more information.