Integrating a youth participation model in a youth mental health service: Challenges and lessons learned

It is now widely understood that young people have a right to participate in decisions affecting them. This should mean more than consultation and include integration in the decision-making process; to achieve this, organisations need to invest fully in the implementation of youth participation schemes (Burns and Birrell, 2014).

This article discusses the evaluation of a tiered participation model developed by Headspace, the national youth mental health foundation in Australia. In 2013, Headspace re-established their model for youth participation, the Youth Alliance (YA), drawing on the previous model and a literature review. Two key issues informing the model are:

The result is a three-tiered approach in which participants chose their level of engagement, which can range from ad hoc consultation (tier three), volunteering (tier two), to flexible employment (tier one). This evaluation drew on young people's perspectives to inform continued development. Three focus groups for young people were held, and one for management, with findings supplemented by a review of YA records.

Recruitment

A major challenge is engaging a diverse group, not just the most easily engaged young people. Here a tiered approach has some limitations, with one manager recognising those who are more difficult to engage may simply be ‘pushed' to a lower participation level for ease. However, recruitment did result in a diverse group of 12 tier-two consultants. The two main reasons they joined were to: