By Louca-Mai Brady,
On Saturday 1st February five of us went to Birmingham for the day with Louca-Mai and Helen. We were invited to an event called ‘Children and Young People’s Involvement in Health and Social Care Research: Making Connections’, which brought together over 80 young people (and the adults who work with them) from GenerationR young people’s advisory groups from across the country.
We started off the day excited to see other YPAGs, meet other people, and have a day out as a group, although we were also quite sleepy after some very early starts! Luckily, everyone got to the train in plenty of time and all the logistics of the day went smoothly. Here’s a picture of us on the train:
Us on the train to Birmingham
Once we got to the venue in Birmingham, we sat on tables with members of other YPAGs, while the adults sat at tables at the side of the room. We started the day listening to some really interesting presentations. The first presentation was from Simon Stones and Sophie Ainsworth, who used to be members of YPAGs and have gone on to loads of amazing things since. They talked about how the skills and experience they got from this experience helped them in their studies and careers. Sophie set up a charity, RaiISE, which is run by young people with invisible illnesses after she didn’t get the support she needed at school. The presentation was inspiring, showing the opportunities that being involved in research can bring.
Cherish: “It was great hearing other people talk about how important research with young people’s input is”
Then we talked in groups and made bunting about the positives and difficulties of being involved in research. The positives we discussed included how being involved in research makes us feel useful, like our voices are being heard, and that being involved in a YPAG is a fun break from normal school and work. The challenges we talked about included when researchers sometimes come to talk to YPAGs having already made up their mind what they want to do, and don’t really listen or take on board feedback from young people. As part of this, we talked about the importance of young people being involved in the whole research process, if possible from the start to the finish of a project. It’s less good when researchers just come to a meeting once, or don’t provide feedback on how the project went and how young people’s involvement changed their research. Other groups also reported that its good when researchers come and do practical and creative activities, but also don’t want to do stuff that is too babyish or doesn’t recognise the expertise of the children and young people.
Some of the bunting we made about our ideas
Keira: “I enjoyed meeting other YPAG members from across England”
Matthew: “It helped gain an insight into what other people are doing”
After another fascinating presentation from Professor Cath Larkins, about trauma-informed research on young people’s mental health, we did another fun group activity. We drew pictures of our ‘ideal researcher’ to identify the characteristics we thought the ideal researcher should have. We think the ‘ideal researcher’ should be kind, fun, appreciative of the YPAG being able to give feedback rather than seeing it as an obstacle, and willing to provide feedback to the YPAG. We also thought the ideal researcher would be someone who puts the interests of the people they are helping first, who listens, is clear and informative, creative, empathetic, flexible, and allows sufficient time to properly engage with the YPAG.
Finally, we heard from presenters including Louise Ting, who talked about inclusive involvement and a great diagram she developed about how young people can be involved all the way through the research process – read this post for more information.
The diagram Louise developed with members of another YPAG
Josh Harsant from Barnardo’s Voice and Influence team, discussed how they involved young people in how they work as an organisation.
Aedan: “It was a great opportunity to meet like-minded people”
Lucy: “It was really inspiring and interesting to learn about what other people think”
We then had to rush off to catch our train back to London, so sadly only had time for a quick goodbye to our new friends. We’ll just have to do it all again sometime!
Photo of live drawing sketches from the event