Right Here
Emily Rogers
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Brighton and Hove project involves 'youth ambassadors' working to improve their peers' health and wellbeing and services.
- They support peers through activities including mental wellbeing-themed workshops and developing health guides
- They influence policy and practice through campaigns, research, training and inspecting health services
ACTION
Right Here arose from a 2008 partnership between the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation, to develop youth-led approaches to improving mental health among 16- to 25-year-olds. Hove-based YMCA DownsLink Group co-produced a project proposal with mental health charity Mind, Brighton and Hove Council and the primary care trust, informed by young YMCA and Mind service users. It was among four applicants sharing £6m over five years.
The Brighton and Hove project launched in June 2010. Current funders include the council's public health department and the area's clinical commissioning group and it now covers all 11- to 25-year-olds' health issues. A group of 26 volunteer youth ambassadors meet weekly to plan their work, which includes delivering mental wellbeing-themed school workshops and resilience-building activities for peers. They also develop health and wellbeing digital and pocket guides and strive to influence policy and practice through campaigns, research, training, meetings with policymakers and scrutinising GP practices in supporting young people's mental health.
Volunteers are supported and trained in workshop facilitation, communication and research by a project manager and two participation co-ordinators, sometimes helped by external professionals. Around 80 per cent have lived experience of mental health issues, which YMCA DownsLink Group's head of young people's services and participation Mark Cull says they "bring to the table". "Many volunteers find a real sense of identity and community with the project; previously, they may have been socially isolated," says Cull. "We can fast-track them into our own services like counselling where needed."
Louise Brennan, aged 18, joined Right Here in 2016. "When I was 16, I was in a difficult place," she recalls. "But out of that, I felt I could do a positive thing and help other young people. I'd identified things that made it worse for me and people I know and things making it better, as well as flaws in the support system. I felt I needed to share all that."
Louise has helped produce content for the youth ambassadors' school workshops, which in 2016/17 engaged more than 1,700 secondary pupils in topics including exam stress, social media's impact on mental health and seeking help for peers. She wanted to get through to pupils that self-harm isn't always physical; that they "can harm themselves in many different ways through being unkind to themselves", through drugs and alcohol, skipping school or low self-esteem. Louise has also helped create film and digital resources including the website Find Get Give, connecting young people across England to mental health services. Right Here's other websites include Doc Ready, helping young people prepare for mental health-related GP visits and Where to Go For, signposting them, their parents and professionals to local information, advice and support.
Youth ambassadors also play a "Young Healthwatch" role; visiting GP practices, inspecting the youth friendliness of waiting areas and assessing doctors' effectiveness in signposting to other services, their attitude towards mental health, and their involvement of young patients in discussions about treatment options.
IMPACT
A 2014 national evaluation by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research describes Right Here projects as "transformational" for some, citing benefits including increased mental health awareness and confidence, improved relationships and behaviour and increased volunteering and career opportunities. The Brighton and Hove project has reached tens of thousands of young people, involving around 250 volunteers. Cull believes around two thirds of volunteers leaving over the last 18 months have entered health-related or voluntary sector employment.
"I don't believe I'd be the person I am without this project," says youth ambassador Louise, who's now studying film and television at college and aspires to work in the film industry, alongside campaigning. "It's turned me into a thoughtful, compassionate young adult. Mental health difficulties can be the scariest thing ever for young people. Right Here helps them see they're ordinary."
The project was "Highly Commended" in the Mental Health and Wellbeing category at the 2017 CYP Now Awards.