Interview: Time to be positive - Martina Milburn, chief executive, the Prince's Trust

Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince's Trust, says her organisation's Youth Week is specifically about changing the public's negative perception of young people, as well as encouraging wellbeing. "If we keep telling young people that they are layabouts, losers and junkies, there is a real danger that they will believe they can't do anything different," she says. "It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Next November, the government is set to launch its own Youth Week, to celebrate young people's achievements. Milburn hopes to be part of the consortium running that as well. "We are involved with the consortium being led by The National Youth Agency that is bidding for the contract to run the National Youth Week next year," she explains. "We are hoping to take the lessons we have learnt from running our own youth week this year and build on that with our voluntary sector partners next year."