Transitioning out of youth involvement roles: an interview with a Youth Involvement Officer and Senior Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Lead

Within mental health research and service delivery, involvement of experts by experience has become increasingly common. The involvement of experts by experience allows for the design and delivery of research that is of higher quality and more rigorous.

Transitioning out of youth-focussed lived experience groups is a matter that is not well understood and, for many reasons, complex. It can be difficult to transition from the role of being a young contributor to research into a professional in the Public and Patient Involvement space. Working in lived experience roles, either as ‘lived experience practitioners’, ‘peer support workers’, ‘PPI facilitators’ or ‘involvement officers’ can be complex and the relationships you hold in these spaces vary depending on your positioning within either the group or the organisation (Carr, 2019).

In this blog we explore the experience of Beckye, a former Youth Advisory Group (YAG) member for the University of Birmingham’s Institute for Mental Health as she begins the making this transition into an employee in a Youth Involvement Officer. The blog takes the form of responses to an with Beckye (Youth Involvement Officer) and Niyah (Senior Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Lead). The interview offers early reflections that may be of use to organisations or individuals who may be supporting folk undertaking these transitions or in the process of negotiating the transition themselves.

Storytelling for stigma reduction: Researcher and peer reflections

Lived experiencePower to Persuade20 October 2023mental health

Victoria's new leadership offers a chance for renewed mental health reform

Lived experience, Policy and governance, PoliticsPower to Persuade5 October 2023mental health, Lived/consumer experience

Peer-led services: reducing barriers to healthcare for LGBTIQA+ people

LGBTIQA+ people are more likely to experience marginalisation, stigma, social exclusion, abuse, and violence than the wider community. Philippa Moss, CEO of ACT-based LGBTIQA+ peer-led health service Meridian, and Alison Barclay, researcher and social impact consultant, explain how peer-led services are helping to address this gap, and what more needs to be done.

The 'right to recover': Healing from family, domestic and sexual violence requires community-wide action

Marisa Lo Bartolo (LinkedIn), from Good Shepherd (@GoodShepANZ) reflects on the recent Australian Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Recovery and Healing Conference in Wollongong. Marisa is a Policy and Advocacy Advisor, and has a particular interest in the primary prevention of gender based violence, trauma recovery, and issues faced by LGBTIQA+ communities.

Findings from the early evaluation of the UK Children and Young People's Mental Health Trailblazer programme

Globally there is an increasing focus on the mental health and well-being of children and young people as youth mental health problems have replaced childhood mortality as the most significant challenge for society (WEF, 2020). Dr Sarah-Jane Fenton (@S_JFenton) presents findings from the early evaluation of a UK programme, which offers valuable insights (with Jo Ellins (@DrJoEllins) and the Health Services Management Centre (@_HSMCentre)).

Using a youth rights approach to improve LGBTQ+ young people’s mental health

The consensus from the UN, UNICEF and the WHO is that there is a fundamental relationship between human rights and mental health. Importantly, the UN has recognised that young people are often forgotten in the human rights framework and specific approaches should be used to ensure their rights are upheld because they differ significantly from those of younger children. They advocate that the most effective human-rights approach to young people’s mental health care should be based on public health and psychosocial support rather than overmedicalization and institutionalization.

Participant, Facilitator, Clinician, Researcher: Reflecting on personal and professional experiences of co-production at the outset of researching co-production in youth mental health.

My first experiences of co-production were in the national youth charity Woodcraft Folk (WCF). An organisation founded on principles of co-operation and youth empowerment whose trustee board has included a majority of young people for more than 20 years [1] [2] [3]. From joining, age 8, I was given responsibilities which contributed to collective aims. Co-producing events and campaigns with my peers in the self-organising 16-20 year old section were formative experiences [4]. Age 22, I began working at the head office as a youth empowerment development officer. My role was to support a steering group of young(er) people to run leadership training, improve representation in the organisation, and to have fun (allegedly then the only big lottery funded youth programme using ‘fun’ as an outcome measure!). Of course, it wasn’t perfect co-production - the holy grail – but, in these roles I witnessed the ‘magic’ and ‘electricity’ often spoken about in relation to co-production.

Temporary COVID Supplement Payments Associated With Better Mental Health, But Permanent Boost Likely Required

In Anti-Poverty Week @AntiPovertyWeek it is worth reflecting on what lessons can be learnt from the experiences of, and government responses to, the COVID-19 pandemic – particularly in relation to mental health, financial stress and income support. One key question is whether the Australian Government's Coronavirus Supplement, a temporary income support payment for unemployed jobseekers during the height of COVID-19, protected mental health. This question is investigated by Life Course Centre @lifecourseAust Research Fellow Dr Ferdi Botha @FerdiBotha_MI of the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research @MelbInstUOM. This article was originally published in Austaxpolicy: Tax and Transfer Policy Blog.

Creating using evidenceLife Course Centre21 October 2022mental health, financial wellbeing, COVID-19

The power of information in medication use for people living with severe mental illness

Globally 5% of people live with severe mental illness which includes schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders and bipolar disorder. Antipsychotic medication is the main treatment option and whilst helpful in controlling psychotic symptoms, they can cause debilitating side-effects. This may lead individuals to abruptly stop medication, without the knowledge of clinicians, which for many increases the likelihood of relapsing.

Paving the way for innovation in adult social care in the UK

Innovation is at the heart of plans to reform adult social care across the four UK nations. In this blog, Nuffield Foundation POST Fellow, Katherine Davis explains that conversations with people who have experience of adult social care are vital to effective innovation.

What we learned from the pandemic: Simple steps to make inclusive education more accessible

The recent federal election result has delivered a loud and clear message across the country that we want our political leaders to commit to policies that enable equality, fairness, and compassion. That needs to extend to our children and young people, including appropriate support in educational settings. Shorna Moore of Melbourne City Mission (MCM) and Sally Lasslett of MCM and Hester Hornbrook Academy (@MelbCityMission) explain how the incoming federal government can enact simple policy changes to support all students back to the classroom after concerning data shows that a growing number of vulnerable young people have disengaged from their education following the pandemic.

Remote learningPower to Persuade7 June 2022education, Flexible Work, young people, Disability, mental health

How can we help young people to overcome adversity and look to the future?

One answer may be found closer to home than we think – in supporting parents. In today’s analysis, Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) researcher Dr Carys Chainey (@CarysChainey) from The University of Queensland (@UQ_News) discusses policy responses to her research into the power of evidence-based parenting supports in helping young people to thrive after adversity and to think and act towards the future.

Women, work and the poverty trap: Time for a fair go to support health and wellbeing for Australian women

There is increasing interest in the links between women’s health and their socio-economic constraints. Today’s vitally important analysis is drawn from a newly-published longitudinal analysis that demonstrates a range of factors that are overwhelmingly gendered is creating a road to poverty for Australian women, negatively impacting on their mental health in demonstrable ways. This piece is authored by Joanne Enticott (@EnticottJo), Emily Callender (@EmilyCallander), Rhonda Garad, and Helena Teede, all of Monash University’s Centre for Health Reserach and Implementation (@MonashUni). This article originally appeared in Monash Lens and is republished with permission.

Youth partnership in suicide prevention research: A co-designed GP guide for young people with self-harm or suicidal experiences.

Young people with lived experience of self-harm or suicidal behaviour should be at the forefront of designing, evaluating and implementing suicide prevention research.

Controversial? Unfeasible? Risky?

You name it. As a suicide prevention researcher I have heard it all…by funders, ethics committees, Higher Education Health and Safety committees to name a few.

In this blog, I (Dr Maria Michail) share my experience of working in partnership with young people with lived experience of self-harm and suicidal behaviour to co-design of a guide titled “Visiting your General Practitioner: A guide for young people with lived experience of self-harm and suicidality”.

Mental health in professional Tennis: players, pressure, and policy challenges.

On the beautifully manicured courts of Wimbledon each summer, the shining image of tennis is on display. Superstars like Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic grace the crowd with their athletic prowess and earn significant financial rewards from the tournament, as well as through sponsorship deals from some of the world’s most recognized brands. However, this illusion contrasts starkly from the lived experience reality of most professional players.

Advocacy, Creating using evidence, IssuesPower to Persuade25 June 2021mental health, evidence-based policy

Agency in Youth Mental Health

This post by Lisa Bortolotti is a re-post in a series of posts on a project on agency and youth mental health funded by the Medical Research Council and led by Rose McCabe at City University, UK. Lisa is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, affiliated with the Department of Philosophy and the Institute for Mental Health. In this post she answers four questions about her work on agency in youth mental health.

COVID and Suicide Prevention: Perspectives from Social Media

There is increasing cross-sectoral unease about the mental health impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown put in place to combat it. A recent commentary in the Lancet suggested that “suicide is likely to become a more pressing concern as the pandemic spreads and has longer-term effects on the general population, the economy, and vulnerable groups” (Gunnell et al. 2020). While a relationship between COVID and suicide is not clearly established, Dr Anna Lavis argues that the key to forging understandings of their potentially complex connections is an attention to the many suicide-related discussions currently happening on social media.

SCALING UP EFFORTS TO TACKLE MALE SELF-HARM

In today’s post, Andrew Trounson from the University of Melbourne discusses suicide prevention among males. Drawing on the research of Jane Pirkis and Zac Seidler, Trunson argues that the stresses related to COVID-19 will likely increase the risk of suicide among males. As such, more attention needs to paid to services that are tailored to the needs of men and boys. Although males are traditionally seen as reluctant to seek help , 60% of people who had taken their own lives had sought help in the previous 12 months, according to Dr Seidler. Masculinity is complicated, therefore initiatives designed to help men and boys need to be nuanced (and wide-spread) rather than based on stereotypes.

IssuesPower to Persuade10 September 2020mental health

Getting serious about holistic recovery requires gender-responsive budgeting

In a year full of surprises, the delay of the national budget is but a blip on the screen. As pre-submissions to the budget close this week, Policy Whisperer Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) and Jeremy Levine (@_JeremyLevine), both of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, analyse how integrating a process of gender-responsive budgeting could enable Australia’s state and federal governments to identify and address some of the many social and economic hits that COVID-19 has unleashed. This analysis draws on their testimony to the Victorian Government’s Inquiry into Gender Responsive Budgeting. A copy of the tabled document and full transcript is available here.

Blog

THIS WEEK’S MODERATOR

Controversial? Unfeasible? Risky?