West Yorkshire Health Care Partnership (WYHCP) is keen to work with young people and ensure their voices are heard in service design and development through the development of a Youth Board. The Youth Collective has a core membership, with others who join to work on specific topics or tasks. It is made up from young people, aged 13 -19, representing the diverse communities of West Yorkshire and Cravan, with an interest in health. And includes young people who identify as care experienced, British Asian, Young Carer and with the LGBTQI+ community.
Members of the Youth Collective have a range of lived experience, from those with extensive experience of health care services to those who understand the impact of health on our positive outcomes. All the young people recognise that health isn’t a stand alone topic but part of who we are and our well-being. The range of health issues which the group feel supported and able to shared with each other included a range of emotional and mental health issues, Autism Spectrum Disorder, physical challenges which can limit participation and being clinically extremely vulnerable.
To support the group, as it covers a wide geographical area and some young people have different learning styles, the Youth Collective meet on line and in person, This has been reflected in attendance and continuity. In response the group adopted a flexible approach enabling members to attend sessions on topics that interest them. In addition, in recognition that they are representatives of their peers and wont always have direct lived experience, they reached out to specific cohorts of young people when needed, asking them to served as expert references for the wider collective. Health is a really broad issue and the Partnership have championed this idea health affects us all - whether we have good health, how much we know about our health and services, the basis of good health feeling good (emotionally and physically), access to healthy food and all the issues which determine how healthy we will be.
The Youth Collective came out of previous engagement looking at how we could engage with young people to find out if they would like to contribute to the work of the Partnership, and what ideas they may have on how we can ensure the voice of young people are included in the future of health and care services.
A survey was carried out across the area and we received responses from over 60 youth organisations. The intention is to access support from these groups on an ongoing basis as and when needed – rather than inventing something new. You can read the report here.
You can also read more about what young people from all over the country say who have a passion for improving health services for young people here, with lots of useful resources for engaging with young people.
Something else that we are developing is engaging with people and communities from different groups prior to or during Board meetings. This is to listen to what they have to say, hear about their experiences and think about this when making decisions.
"The board meeting was very informative and productive, members from both the collective and the board learned a lot, and it was great to show the incredible work both completed and underway. The board were inviting and invested in what can be done better when working with young people in the future, and I'm sure going forward they will utilise the advice we gave." A member of the Youth Collective.