EAST ENGLAND

• VIKs ran a workshop for trainee child and adolescent psychiatrists at a national conference.  The workshop was based on encouraging the trainees to consider the journey through mental health services through the eyes of young people.  Delegates rated the workshop 4.8/5 for enjoyment and 5/5 for relevance to their work.  Read more about the workshop here.

• Regional worker, Kevin, ran a workshop for members of the Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust’s Youth Council.  The outcomes of the workshop will be presented to the trust’s Chief Executive.

• West Midlands regional worker, Marcia, delivered a presentation to 20 staff at Hertfordshire CAMHS on the  values of young people’s particpation within mental health services.

EAST MIDLANDS

• Last month VIR in the East Midlands region were consulted by Leicestershire CAMHS and Leicester Royal Infirmary Emergency Team, about their experiences of using A&E services.  As a result of this focus group, areas that need improvement have been highlighted.  These included; extra training for hospital staff, including security guards, in how to deal with young people experiencing mental health difficulties; starting to change staff attitudes, especially when dealing with self harm or suicide attempts and a lack of referrals to other services for support.

• VIR from Leicestershire were also consulted by the Midlands IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) consortium, to get their views on what a good children & young people’s IAPT service would look like.  This was fed back to the Leicestershire IAPT task group.

“We had a fantastic session with the young people from Labelled…I was blown away by their commitment to other children and young people, absolutely awe-inspiring. Being so busy themselves but finding the energy to help others was just amazing” Dr Fiona warner –Gale and Jane Sedywick.

• Rose has also held meetings with Northampton CAMHS to discuss how to improve services to young people, especially carers; and Leicester CAMHS commissioner and Akwaaba Group, to explore the issues affecting Black and ethnic minority young people in accessing CAMHS services.

• Young people from the region were also consulted by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement as part of their 15 Steps Challenge.

LONDON

• London Regional Worker, Erin, has been supporting VOICE Collective’s development of animated workshops which will tackle the stigma faced by young people who hear voices.

• 4 young people from Haringey & Enfield CAMHS took part in the recruitment of new IAPT collaborative (groups or partnerships of CAMHS services working together and with young people, to improve services for children and young people).

• University College London (UCL) and Kings College London (KCL), both higher education institutes from the London IAPT collaborative, have been working on developing ways to involve young people in the IAPT teaching and training programme.

• Erin has also been supporting Bexley CAMHS to set up a focus group to help improve the transition from CAMHS to AMHS.

NORTH EAST

• Regional worker, Yvonne and North East VIK, were interviewed on local radio (BBC Radio Tees) about self harm.  Journalist remarked on air

“This was an interview that really made me think and I took it home with me and reflected on it”

• Yvonne attedend meeting to input views about young people / mental health to the Sunderland Health & Well Being Board.

• Also, VIR Alex, a student at Newcastle University, persuaded her student mates to hold a ball for YoungMinds.

“Just checked the bank and we received £480 on 30/05/12 which I think is from your Facebook people”

• Yvonne has been supporting the Kidstime Foundation’s ‘Mental Project’ up in the North east.

SOUTH EAST

• Hampshire CAMHS received participation training.

• Development of a recruitment schedule for young people’s involvement in the selection of new Hampshire CAMHS staff.

SOUTH WEST

• Regional worker, Matt, ran a session with the SAFE group on Emotional Wellbeing.

• Delivered training to mental health Masters students through the Anna Freud Foundation & UCL on participation and involving young people in measuring outcomes.

• Attended meeting with Somerset CAMHS and researchers from Peninsular Medical School to develop plans for a workshop on using text messaging as an intervention in CAMHS.

• Met with members of CAMHs and public health at Somerset young people friendly services steering group to discuss the involvement of young people in assessing services including CAMHS.

WEST MIDLANDS

• Marcia worked with 11 young people from SJW school gathering views and experiences of mental ill health that can be shared with statutory agencies in Birmingham.  Students from years 7 – 9  worked with a local poet who, using some of his experiences of mental ill health, inspired and motivated them to write about issues that they find hard discussing

 “I read my poem about  bullying to the rest of the group and felt really proud of myself. ”   Year 7 student SJW

“This group has helped me to feel more confident, lots of people have problems but talking, writing and drawing can help you to feel better about yourself”  Year 9 student SJW

“ I had fun  today and I liked the poet who came to work with us, he helped us with rhyming  and putting down the  thoughts I had in my head about my brothers death and how this affected me”  Year 9 student SJW

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER

• Y&H Regional Worker, Liz, worked with Barnsley CAMHS last month, giving them some basic participation training and helping their ‘participation champions’ to set up a participation focus/steering group with local young people.

• Liz also supported a VIK from the region to work on a film ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ which is based on her ‘Deciphering the System’ work.

• Young people from Leeds have also been feeding into the National Children & Young People’s IAPT programme by preparing the recruitment and selection process for new collaboratives, with staff from the Department of Health.

• VIK & VIR in Leeds have also been campaigning for more appropriate local, mental health advocacy, services.

CLICK HERE FOR A MORE DETAILED TIMELINE OF THE VIK PROJECT SO FAR