In June 2021 we hosted a reverse conference – All About Me, For the Benefit of Everyone – to listen to young people, parents, carers, teachers, GPs, Police and acute healthcare colleagues. We wanted to listen to what is working, what needs fixing and how to take this forward. All the content from breakout rooms, Mentimeter, Jamboards and the chat helped develop recommendations for the ICS and I-statements to keep young people at the heart of our work.
You can read a summary of all areas discussed, people’s experiences, I statements and the recommendations. Download the summary report here.
Since the event these recommendations have been presented at numerous forums locally and across London, helping to guide decision making. The clinical senate were impressed with the clarity of what young people want and committed to keeping this alive. The conversations and action that came from the All About Me event have started a number of initiatives, some of those include:
Mental Health Support Teams are now in every borough across NEL. Working in and around education sites they offer intervention and support the development of a whole school approach, supporting Senior Mental Health Leads in schools.
Kooth has been commissioned in all NEL boroughs, offering a digital space for expression, help seeking and online counselling.
Providers have been thinking about who else, beyond nurses, psychologists and doctors can help support young people’s mental health. We presented to the CEOs of all London NHS providers to consider Peer Roles as a core profession within mental health services, seeking opportunities to employ young people to be peer support workers, training facilitators, and social prescribers.
The recruitment of three digital participation workers to better understand how young people want mental health services to interact and deliver resources.
