Live - Being Healthy

NYA calls for a ban on Mosquito devices

tim — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:48:33 +0100

The National Youth Agency's spotlight briefing from the Youth Summit calls for Mosquito devices to be banned.

Young people at the Youth Summit strongly condemned the use of the devices which emit a high pitch noise only audible to young people - and which are intended to drive young people away from congregating where the devices are installed.

Participants at the Youth Summit spoke of the need for a campaign against the devices. Human Rights campaign group Liberty have expressed concern that the devices violate young people's Human Rights.

Youth Summit Live: Summary

tim — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:26:10 +0100

The Youth Summit has been a great success for all those who attended, bringing together practitioners, policy makers and young people to discuss the key issues affecting the implementation of the Government’s ten-year strategy for children and young people. A wealth of ideas, debate and dialogue were generated, the most relevant of which have been captured as video interviews, podcasts, powerpoints and transcripts downloadable from this website. We will ensure it informs our work as we move forward and hope you find it valuable as well.

Throughout the Summit we were recording workshops and plenary sessions through Youth Summit Live. Below are links to some of the key posts in each theme.

Staying Safe

Summary workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges and a full list of day 1 workshop notes give an overview of the staying safe topics covered. The workshop was led by young people from Corby using an attitude finder activity
Discussions of the harm caused Mosquito devices played a big part in the workshop, as the young people from Corby tell is in this video interview and as a workshop participant reflects in this one.
Workshop notes from day 2: priorities for action give a sense of the issues that participants wanted to take forward.
Darshna from Churchfield Primary School also used the blogging feature on Youth Summit Live to offer an imagined advice column to young people on issues of bullying.

Being Healthy

The summary workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges in health give an overview of where we are falling short for young people, with all the different issues identified covered in this post.
Workshop notes from day 2: priorities for action gives a wide-ranging list of priorities from the health workshops, focussing in particular on funding and investment, better sex and relationship education, and improved training and sharing of good practise.
A what's changed example and two videos from the Maypole centre help explore some good practise sharing
Plus - we captured the launch of Youth Access's new resources on commissioning mental health services for young people

Enjoying and Achieving

The workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges build up a clear picture of where change is needed.
Young people from NACRO Newcastle who led these workshops put enjoying and achievement into practise whilst at the summit - by making the most of their London visit and working hard to build a presentation overnight including their photos from around the city that fed into day 2.
The workshop notes from day 2: priorities for action identifies a range of campaigning, spending, policy and practise changes required.
A presentation from Actions Speak Louder highly commended project Rolling Base

Having Economic Wellbeing

The workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges set out some serious topics for discussion on day 2.
But as the woorkshop notes from day 2: priorities for action show - the group generated practical forward planning ideas and shared examples of where action to ensure young people economic wellbeing can work.
We also capture Anthony Lawton's three tests for good housing through Bill's blogging and a discussion has developed on this blog post about gangs placed in the economic wellbeing category.

Making a positive contribution

The making a positive contribution workshop notes from day 1: give a wider ranging assessment of the challenges, added to by points from the young volunteers helping lead the session
The notes from day 2 with priorities are here. The group had a particularly interesting set of discussions about compulsory volunteering.
Mike from Yomo, watching Youth Summit Live whilst working in Ireland, shared some background resources that might be useful for organisations exploring young peoples volunteering and participation.

Plus - outside the core themes of the Youth Summit we had lots of activity on Youth Summit Live. This poem started of a wave of creativity, surfed by Barney from conference organisers NSA with this poetic input. Holly Hill proved to be star blogger, regularly dropping into the media centre to share her reflections. Plus - Tom Wylie's suggestion that there be a national Youth Board sparked a lot of discussion, including an online poll and a couple of video interviews.

Where next for Youth Summit Live?

The Youth Summit Live website will continue to be available and open for contributions for another couple of weeks. After that, we'll pause the ability to add information - but will keep it available so that practioners, policy makers and young people alike can share the collected wisdom and insights of all Youth Summit Live contributors.

The National Youth Agency, supported by Practical Participation is starting a deeper exploration of how methods like this can help us to communicate with and deepen our dialogue with young people and other NYA stakeholder alike. We'd welcome your continued comments, reflections and input.

The Youth Summit Live model

Youth Summit Live was concieved, designed, developed and run in just under a fortnight by Tim Davies of Practical Participation, working with the organising team for Youth Summit live from the National Youth Agency and Neil Stuarts Associates. It was championed and supported by Bill Badham. The Roving Reporters team made the media happen by roving through the Youth Summit gathering photos, reports and more. If you have any feedback about Youth Summit Live; you're interested in exploring how a Youth Summit Live style model could work at an event you are running; or you are interested in wider explorations of how new media can work for your organisation or project, please do contact tim@practicalparticipation.co.uk.

Young People in Malawi - Africa!

masyomo — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:25:13 +0100

The young people involved in supporting this project became involved by volunteering after they had attended courses themselves. They're from a broad range of backgrounds from different areas of the UK & Ireland.

Our work in Africa has largely been about a different kind of challenge for the young people that volunteer with us to deliver our training. In the UK we work with many of the "most deprived" areas and often hear about where communities we work with 'rank' on the indices of deprivation etc. Our volunteers are from these same areas - so this is a separate challenge working with people in 'absolute poverty'.

The average life expectancy in Malawi is just 36! It is by all measures one of the poorest countries in the world. And yet in the Zomba region we worked in two young men - Ernest & Giles are trying to make a difference. We're supporting them for at least the next 3 years because if people can make a difference in those circumstances they definitely can over here!

In this film Ernest talks a little about the Grace Orphan & Disabled Care Group and their hopes for the future. You can read more about the programme on the YoMo website at www.yomo.co.uk - just click on the link on the front page. You can also send donations by sms text message by texting 'YOMO' to 82070

If you'd like more info please use the forum on the YoMo site.

Feedback from Day 2 working: Priorities for being healthy

tim — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:33:26 +0100

What are the key priorities for action?

Campaigning

Encourage local politicians to get involved in the local youth offer

Convincing schools of the added value of compulsory, comprehensive SRE

Showing added value for schools to have it (PHSE) as national curriculum. (i.e. improved results and educational attainment)

Get it on school agenda

Put more emphasis on substance misuse and involve parents more.

This is a IYS/TYS agenda. Why is that not a more explicit strand of this conference?

Good media

National campaign involving young people to target media about changing the language / image / stereotyping they use to represent young people. Report more good things rather than bad. Good news can sell!

Policy (national and local)

Review of services

Yearly review mandatory with long term funds and if provision is not delivered – money could be withdrawn

Ensure that measuring / monitoring is done with young people to see that the service meets the needs of young people

More investment in service delivery
Local policy should catch up with national policy – but there’s so much and complex that local councilors don’t understand or get the message

SRE: Confidential information and advice. SRE as a compulsory part of curriculum.

Compulsory, validated sex and relationship education training – as part of core curriculum

SRE should be a core component of the workforce development programme in the future – a core competency. Thus all professionals should have a better understanding and better delivery of SRE.

SRE and D + A part of national curriculum including signposting. Clear criteria.
Clear what mainstream education should be doing and youth services / drug service

Include SRE into national curriculum
Hold parents responsible for SRE

Integration of youth services into schools
Embed SRE training in youth workforce

Need to standardize what’s been learned from good practice where education works
Youth services share responsibility for SRE – to avoid risk of either service assuming the other is covering it

National Youth Board
Good media representation of young people
Youth workers recognized for what they do
Young people need to be listened to and involved in the decisions that affect us

Youth workers need to be recognized more for the good service they deliver.
Media representation of young people needs to change

Look at previous years certificates and work out the need for each provision

Great need for workers to share access to proper training

Practice

Sharing good practice
Learning – from others

Involving, exciting and challenging youth work delivered across all 5 outcomes is happening – there should be more resources put into universal services s othat all youth services are quality
“Pee in the pot”. C
Chlamidya testing – detached
Youth working with PCT in Hampshire

Schools need to commit resources if using outside agencies in advice so that agencies can plan allocation of resources

Islington LEA + PCT have people in a team trained to deliver in schools with measurable outcomes.

Standardise good practice and provide training for staff

Embed SRE and drugs education in all youth programmes

Schools and youth services need to map SRE in their local area to see where gaps exist (i.e. NEET young people)

Best practice needs to be shared. For example, the maypole centre

Spending

Meeting needs
Contracting
Timescales
Sustainability

Commissioners not to withdraw money where there has been success
Ensure that short term funding initiatives do not keep setting very high expectations for services later withdrawn
Examine where care funding is being spent
Sustainability of best practice

More investment in workforce – quality training programmes

Compulsory PSHE with certified staff members

Keeping funding at an adequate level and sustain it.

Enable and encourage schools to spend on community services for young people

Funding always seems to run until the organisation has been successful than is suddenly stops

Spend money wisely, not just in high risk areas but for high quality services

Sustainability. Not only short term project but long term effective funding

Roving Reporters - Newsletter

tim — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:50:52 +0100

The Roving Reporters were up till late last night creating an overnight newsletter to give a picture of the whole event.

Get your copy here (PDF).

Youth Access Launch new Counselling Resources

tim — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 10:54:41 +0100

Tom Wylie, Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency, on behalf of Youth Access (its partner organisation) today launches at the Youth Summit two free national resources
to support the commissioning of youth counselling services across the country.

Caroline Flint, Minister for Public Health stopped by the Youth Access stand at the Summit just after the launch and had this to say:

You can find the full press release from Youth Access attached below...

Young people's notes from Health workshop - day 1

tim — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:39:52 +0100

What is young people's experience?

What needs to be changed or put in place?

Better communication between all young people
Healthy food shop for young people (affordable)
Too many off-licenses in poor neighborhoods
Creating health services for young people locally.

Key messages for tomorrow
We need better communication – media etc.
More control commercially – food shops etc.
Flexibility of GP services
Creating health services for young people locally

Where are we falling short for children and young people?

GP. Housing etc: Need to phone in the morning to get an appointment. No flexibility – not able to get an appointment for the following day.
Tricky to access GP without parent/guardian being there

Extra Evidence Online (optional)

Why are we falling short?

Extra Evidence Online (optional)

Notes from day 1 workshops: Health

tim — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:36:30 +0100

What is young people's experience?

What needs to be changed or put in place?

Need to break down professional barriers
Better communication – need better guidance across statutory and non statutory
Access to other peoples outcome
Working together
Government reducing the burdens and the need to write reports

Better communications
Guidance over statutory and non statutory
Less separate plans / reports required

Guidance for best practice that includes statutory and non-statutory agencies. I.e. CF, NOF, Comic Relief
Government reduce the burden of separate reporting
Children and young people’s plan is central
Constant involvement of young people in development and planning

Leaving services along to do it
Sustainable funding

Clarity of funding
Leave programmes to run for some time – 10 yrs
Greater local direction – not necessarily a national agenda

A commitment to securing ECM / Youth Matters policy / objectives for a minimum of 10 years – (a cross party agreement)

Long term funding
Responsible media
Recognition of value of youth work as a delivery agency (community based, no stigma)

More young people to believe in themselves and their own empowerment

Inclusion – youth councils
Consolidate service providers – cohesion
Information sharing

Priorities for tomorrow
2009 healthy schools initiative –
Curriculum for education -> cross curricular: drugs, sex, alcohol etc.
Long term funding – 10 year strategy

Consistency needed
Media and communications with young people

Define health standards – healthy schools goal posts have moved due to target not being met.
Health standards must be rigid and inspected. OFSTED.
Drugs and alcohol and sex and relationship education should be national curriculum and outcome measured.

10 year strategy
Make outcomes clear

Bring support to parents as well as young people – to help them help themselves
Rise above politics and look for longer term commitments

Sustainability

Keep asking what funds what they suggest

How does youth work make a difference rather than the activities being delivered by other agencies?

Levels of resources to enable services where young people are – and to personalize services for young people

Where are we falling short for children and young people?

Extra Evidence Online (optional)

Why are we falling short?

Not having everybody on board
Regional variations make it hard to work together
Funding, failure to be able to really have long term plans is down to funding and government policy – short term project funding money is always a stumbling block.
Demonisation of young people by society

Funding
Integrated effort
Engagement with young people and listening and following through

Long term plan, short term funding
Shifting agenda, teenage pregnancy, drugs etc.
Precious about ring fenced or individual budgets hinders joint working
Local communities: lack of support for young people
Support of key stakeholders
Regional variations

Funding sustainability
Lack of investment in youth agenda
Constant change of direction

Lack of funding continuity
Lack of evidence re youth issues
Other priorities take precedence
Changing directions

Failure to invest in longer term
Too many shifts and changed in policy that inhibit services from focusing on young peoples needs

Voluntary, non-stigmatized, trust, integrity, person centered, community based, long term funding.

Services are NOT rooted in young peoples own communities or peer groups, are not often based on a voluntary and more equal relationship – and often get stigmatized

Adults perceptions of young people
Lack of funding for personalized services

Lack of resources
Youth working training not as good
Sustainability

Extra Evidence Online (optional)

What's Changed: Maypole

tim — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:15:19 +0100

Web Link

http://www.maypolecentre.co.uk/contents/default.html

Video

The Maypole Centre, Birmingham Enpowering young people

billb — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:36:23 +0100

This DVD from The Maypole Centre in Birmingham descibes what the Centre does and its impact for young people in the area on their health and wellbeing

The Maypole Centre, Birmingham, Healthy Outcomes

billb — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:35:57 +0100

This second video clip from The Maypole Centre in Birmingham will be used by the young people on the second day of the Youth Summit to introduce their experience to the workshop delegates