Posted on: 7 May 2021
The best way to tackle youth violence? Ask young people
Hello my name is Madeline.
“Start young”, that is what *Emily, a 17-year-old girl from Bradford, told us when we asked what advice she would give to professionals working to end youth violence.
Too often, research into issues affecting young people focuses on the adult perspective and fails to capture what young people are thinking. As part of our research project to understand the root causes of serious youth violence and exploitation in West Yorkshire, we set out to do things differently.
We asked young people to tell us in their own words the impact serious violence and exploitation has on them and their communities. And throughout the project we consulted and collaborated with them to understand the issues as they saw them.
This approach has enabled us to put forward fresh and unique evidence-based recommendations to the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to tackle serious youth violence and exploitation in the region.
Reaching young people
To overcome the logistical challenge of reaching young people in West Yorkshire, we began by establishing trusted relationships with their adult representatives. That involved email exchanges, phone calls and video interviews. Once we had developed good relationships with the representatives, we asked them to facilitate interviews with the young people.
The young people selected for interview were from diverse and often challenging backgrounds. Many of them had special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); some had been excluded from mainstream education.
With those vulnerabilities in mind, we worked with the adult representatives to decide the most appropriate way to engage with the young people - and that meant we had to work flexibly. For instance, we interviewed one young person via a mobile phone from a supermarket car park because of safety concerns and internet connectivity issues at his home. To reach young people from the SEND cohort who might find it difficult to sit through an interview, we arranged for trusted youth workers to carry out the interviews remotely. The responses were then sent to Crest Advisory for analysis. This flexible approach, though challenging, ensured we reached a broad range of young people across West Yorkshire. As a result, our report reflects the views of vulnerable young people who are often not included in research.
Collaboration with young people
Early on in the project, we held a focus group with apprentices based in Bradford, aged 16 to 25. We discussed the impact of serious youth violence and exploitation and the connection with poverty, substance misuse and unmet mental health needs.
Through this work we gained a fresh understanding of how health inequalities and serious violence and exploitation affect young people in West Yorkshire. The group explained why young people become involved in violence and exploitation:
“There are not a lot of opportunities for young people like me. And when there are not a lot of legitimate opportunities, obviously young people are going to go out and do other things in order to make money, there’s nothing else they can do.”
We often hear media reports about how few opportunities there are for young people, particularly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but here we had young people themselves highlighting how a lack of opportunity and poverty are driving forces pushing them into crime, violence and exploitation.
Youth-led creative engagement
Following the focus group, we identified several young people who were particularly involved in their communities. After consulting the adult lead, we approached Kem and Isha to be our ‘youth ambassadors’. We developed a working relationship with them and met every week to discuss their work on the project. Kem and Isha independently created a spoken word piece and video to express how they felt about the impact of violence and exploitation on young people. It moved me to tears when I watched it.
Youth-led consultation with young people
To reach more young people the youth ambassadors and ourselves organised a youth-led focus group.
The ambassadors took the lead by selecting a group of participants and Crest then helped to draft a template for interviews. It was important to get this right so it would appeal to the young people taking part. We practiced the interviews with the youth ambassadors and discussed how we would support them during the meeting.
In the end, however, they needed very little assistance. Kem and Isha asked clear and concise questions and prompted the participants to elaborate on answers when required. It was evident the ambassadors were genuinely interested in trying to understand how their peers were affected by the issues.
Despite the challenging nature of the subject matter, the young interviewees seemed at ease answering the questions. Having carried out focus groups with young people myself, the value in youth-led interviewing was clear: the interviewees were far more talkative, open and honest.
The importance of engaging directly with young people
Organising interviews in car parks and liaising with 17 year olds 239 miles away can be logistically challenging and time consuming. But the benefits of the approach we used are clear. Engaging with young people directly on issues that affect them added robustness to our research. Instead of relying on what adults think, we took time to dig deeper and in doing so captured youthful and diverse insights. We discovered that young people not only recognise that change is necessary, but also have brilliant ideas on how to make it happen.
Our partnership with the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership and the West Yorkshire VRU
Crest Advisory was commissioned by the West Yorkshire VRU and the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership to carry out new research to understand the root causes of serious violence and exploitation of young people in the area.
The final report will draw on several strands of qualitative and quantitative analysis to produce genuinely fresh local insight, along with a set of practical recommendations for adopting an effective evidence-based public health approach to serious violence and the exploitation of young people in West Yorkshire and Harrogate communities.
The final report will be published early Summer 2021.
On the research, Emmerline Irving, Senior Programme Manager for Improving Population Health, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership said:
“The partnership that has been developed with Crest Advisory is invaluable; Jessica, Maddie and the team embarked on this journey with passion and ambition, taking on a challenge beyond their usual way of working by co-producing this insight with young people.
“Both the team from Crest Advisory and the young people involved have been absolutely amazing, this is such an emotive and sensitive area of work that will inform vital interventions to support young people across West Yorkshire to live their best lives, free from harm and exploitation.”
Read more of Crest’s reports on Violence and Vulnerability, County Lines and Serious Violence. Please contact jessica.
*The respondent’s name has been changed for privacy reasons.
Have a good weekend all
A blog from Sarah Bennett, Senior Midwife for the Partnership’s Local Maternity System Programme
Hello my name is Sarah
This week midwives across West Yorkshire and Harrogate have been celebrating the International day of the Midwife (IDM). 5 May is a day that has been celebrated by midwives across the globe since 1992, and is co-ordinated by the International Confederation of Midwives. This is the second year in a row that midwives have had to celebrate virtually, as they continued to work through the pandemic. In their innate creative way, midwives have celebrated International day of the Midwife with virtual tea parties, awards ceremonies and competitions. I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to each and every one of them and our midwives in training, and their families who have supported them over this extraordinary year.
Each International day of the Midwife has a theme and this year’s is ‘Invest in midwives: follow the data’ and coincides with the launch of the latest State of the World’s Midwifery Report 2021 which provides an updated evidence base and detailed analysis on the impact of midwives on maternal and new-born health outcomes and the return on investment in midwives.
The following the data: invest in midwives is very apt as our data and evidence are so important in helping us to make informed decisions and tackle inequalities as a maternity system. Over a year that has been busier and more stretched than ever our data show progress in outcomes across West Yorkshire and Harrogate, with our still births at their lowest rate since 2016. For our babies born early we have co-produced a system preterm birth guideline, and increased the number of women who receive magnesium sulphate and antenatal steroids in pregnancy to benefit their pre term babies.
We have also been working collaboratively to design, deliver and evaluate our new continuity of midwifery carer models. These are models of care in which women are cared for by a team of up to eight midwives who each carry a small case-load and each provide care during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. We are working towards this model of care being available to most women by 2022. Evidence informs us that women receiving continuity of carer have fewer pre-term births, fewer epidurals, are more likely to be birthed by a midwife they know and are more satisfied with the care they receive. Data has informed and driven our new models. During 2020 1 in 5 women booking for care in the Local Maternity System were booked by continuity of carer teams, and trusts have focussed on designing models that will address the inequalities women face. As such 35% of women offered continuity of carer pathways were from Black and Asian communities and a greater number of woman (35%) living in our most deprived (decile) communities were on continuity of carer pathways compared to 26% of all women booked. This is a fantastic achievement, especially during a pandemic, and we are very proud of all our midwives, maternity support workers and the entire maternity teams with which they work.
I really enjoyed hosting a podcast in celebration of International day of the Midwife and the follow the data: invest in midwives theme. I did this alongside three of our continuity of carer lead midwives and Duncan Cooper, the data analyst for the Local Maternity System. Here’s the link for you to listen to the great discussions we had.
This week has also seen our Maternity Voice Partnerships collecting birth stories from women and families and posting their ‘thank you to midwives'. Whilst our midwifery leaders have been scrutinising their workforce data and finalising their applications for additional funding from the national maternity safety monies for more midwives for the future; and 3rd year student midwives have been interviewed for positions as newly qualified midwives within the Local Maternity System.
Karen Poole, our Local Maternity System Programme Director has delivered a personal thank you to all our midwives, maternity support workers and student midwives that have worked during extraordinary circumstances and yet continued to provide excellent care to women and their families. International day of the Midwife was a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate the passion and dedication shown by midwives and maternity support workers in West Yorkshire and Harrogate and beyond. I am very proud to be a midwife and extremely proud to work collaboratively alongside so many dedicated colleagues in West Yorkshire and Harrogate.
Have a good weekend all,
Sarah
What else has been happening this week?
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Clinical forum
The Clinical Forum met virtually on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Dr James Thomas. Forum members include medical directors, GPs, pharmacists, allied health professionals, lead nurses and NHS E colleagues. Members received an update from the system oversight and assurance group including on dentistry. Forum members were keen to have a dentistry representative at a future meeting and there was a conversation on understanding the data on health inequalities and access to dentists.
Forum members discussed maternal medicine provision; the structure and function of the integrated care system body as part of the new NHS White Paper legislation proposals and global partnerships in integrated care systems.
System leadership executive group
The system leadership executive group meets monthly and is chaired by Rob Webster, our CEO lead. There was an update on NHS Operational Planning for 2021/22 as well as a briefing on diagnostic work. An overview of the work we have been doing on innovation and improvement as well as a discussion on ensuring West Yorkshire and Harrogate is Smoke free by 2030 took place.
There was also a conversation around long-COVID and the impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health, including children and young people and the need to support communities.
Anti-racism movement
We are coproducing an anti-racism movement campaign with colleagues and communities across the Partnership. The initial insight report from the focus group meetings held early April 2021 can be viewed here.
Over 50 colleagues from minority ethnic communities talked about messages and visual identity for the movement and their views on racism. All comments are anonymous. The next steps are to develop the movement design and then test these further. The report combines both academic and a practical approach in creating this report. Our thanks to all involved in this work – together we can dismantle racism.
Community of Practice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers
As part of our Health Inequalities Academy, we have set up a Community of Practice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. This will also progress some of the recommendations from a review into inequalities related to ethnicity published in the autumn. The first meeting took place on Thursday. The group discussed supporting the adoption of migrant friendly hospitals and migrant friendly general practice, increasing awareness in the local system of the health needs of Refugees and Asylum Seekers and sharing good practice with a particular focus on support for improved access to mental health. We will link into and learn from the Yorkshire and Humber Migrant Health Group which is led by Public Health England and aim to turn the learning into local action.
'Harnessing the power of communities' programme
Colleagues are exploring the opportunity to work with Public Health England to be the development site for a national volunteering portal. We hope this will build on existing local good practice and be tested across the NHS and voluntary community social enterprise sector (VCSE) in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. We have also been conducting an evaluation on the role played by the NHS Volunteer Responders during the pandemic. The final report will be available in June.
As part of the work of the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub, we have now established a VCSE Mental Health Reference Group for the Partnership. This group brings together a diverse range of VCSE organisations working around mental health and wellbeing. Initially the group will focus on how the VCSE are engaged in the Hub offer to support staff and volunteers. Over time, this will shift to include the broader mental health agenda.
We continue to work alongside the VCSE and primary care networks to develop a range of alternative or complimentary pathways for those on long waiting lists and with long term health conditions. New pathfinders focus on mental health in Wakefield), obesity and diabetes in Kirklees. The two Musculoskeletal (bones and joints) pathways are now being evaluated and a final report on the impact of this way of working will be available next month.
Seeking volunteers for a new Planned Care Citizens’ Panel
Hospitals are working hard to bring back planned care services in the safest possible way for patients and staff. To help support this essential work, we’re looking for local people to join a new citizens’ panel and share their lived experiences of waiting for elective surgery or a planned care procedure. We want to know how people have managed their symptoms whilst waiting and what, if any activities or support services they have found helpful.
The Planned Care Citizens’ Panel of adult volunteers will be in place as a ‘virtual panel’ for 12 weeks from 21 June to 10 September 2021, meeting online every two weeks. The personal experiences and insight of people affected by delays to planned care as a result of the pandemic will be invaluable in supporting communications around how services are being restored.
Please help to promote the recruitment of volunteers for the panel in any way you can. We’d love to get loads of people from across the area, and from all walks of life, interested in getting involved and sharing their stories. There’s more information on the Planned Care Citizens’ Panel web page, or you can contact Christine Hughes from the Planned Care Alliance with any questions or comments.
Thank you for all your support with this important public involvement work.
Mental Health Awareness Week
Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week will take place from 10-16 May 2021.
Nature is central to our psychological and emotional health – it is almost impossible to realise good mental health for all without a greater connection to the natural world. A 1960s study in the US found that patients who were treated in hospitals with a view of nature recovered faster, that science has started to unpack the extraordinary health benefits.
“Working as a Person Centred Counsellor during a global pandemic created the opportunity to take therapy into nature. Walk and talk therapy is a traditional therapy session that takes place between the therapist and client as they walk and talk. This way of therapy works in two main ways. One of these is being out in nature, the environment with its own beauty has a direct impact on us and the second being the exercise element of it as it delivers more oxygen into our bodies and raises serotonin levels in the brain.
I have found that getting clients out into nature helps with social anxiety and isolation allowing the client to experience the environment in a safe and supported way. When discussing difficult issues the calming colours and textures of nature can create a distraction that softens the impact helping the client to keep grounded in the present.” Jo Rothery, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.
The Partnership’s Climate Change team is leading the delivery of our system’s ambition on climate change, working across and beyond the system to bring awareness of the importance of nature and the natural world to our everyday lives. You can read more about their work on our website.
MindWell Refresh
Award-winning mental health information platform MindWell has been in existence since 2016 and has since reached over 1 million visits and a 75% increase in use in the last lock down compared with the previous year. The platform has now been refreshed with support funding from Leeds CCG and the Better Care Fund.
mHabitat and Volition are hosting an online event to relaunch the platform on Thursday 13 May, 3pm-4pm. The event will share more about the impact, the co-design approach to the rebuild and a whistle-stop tour of the platform. Dr Sara Munro, CEO Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and others will share their perspectives on MindWell and the use of digital to support people living with mental health difficulties. The team at Volition also has a campaign planned to raise awareness of the relationship between mental health and nature which will be advertised at the event.
If you would like to attend, please register on Eventbrite. Further information and the link will come out closer to the time. Please note if you don’t receive the email in your inbox, do check your junk box.
You can submit a question/comment/feedback about MindWell using the Eventbrite link or on twitter using the hashtag #MindWellRefresh. If you have any queries or want to find out more get in touch at wearemhabitat
A virtual tour around Red Kite View our new children and young people mental health unit
Take a virtual tour around Red Kite View – the new West Yorkshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Inpatient Unit and find out more about recent developments. You can also read the latest update about the new unit here.
Leeds Academic Health Partnership invites you/your organisations to sign up to the new, regional Healthtech Catalyst
Particularly targeting healthcare providers and commissioners, entrepreneurs, researchers, businesses and public and private sector innovators, the Healthtech Catalyst will offer networking, wide-ranging support and opportunities. Through events, workshops and direct introductions, the Healthtech Catalyst will offer access to expertise from industry, academia, the public sector, investor networks and entrepreneurs to stimulate innovation and accelerate its adoption in health and care. You can sign up here
Complementing the activities of regional partners, the network aims to catalyse business growth, innovative product deployment and new regional, national and international collaborations. The Healthtech Catalyst, which underpins the ambitions of our regional, cross-sector, healthtech partnership, will help accelerate healthcare innovation and economic growth across our region.
