Bee Heard having a voice on youth mental health in Greater Manchester

Systems boards within health in Greater Manchester signed up to the Greater Manchester Children and Young People’s Voice and Participation Framework, committing to embedding the Lundy Model of participation, which is a rights based framework that ensures young people have space, voice, audience and influence - to ensure that their voices are given due weight. This commitment has created a desire to have greater opportunity for young people to feed into the mental health structures in Greater Manchester.

Established in 2020 Bee Heard works in partnership with the Community and Crisis Mental Health Boards. The aim is to give young people aged 16-24, from across Greater Manchester an opportunity to shape and advise on a wide range of mental health services. 

Young people from Bee Heard meet monthly to discuss topics such as commissioning, Mental Health in Schools, CAMHS, crisis pathways and other key issues relating to youth mental health. Practitioners from the relevant mental health services are invited to meetings by the young people and together examine how services can better support young people across Greater Manchester. 

The project is underpinned by the Lundy Model of participation which is a framework that ensures young people have space, voice, audience and influence - to ensure that their voices are given due weight, and in turn, create change within the mental health services for other young people. The model is also used as a method of evaluation.

Bee Heard undertake a developmental journey through their time on the project. Young people have said how they feel more open to discussing their own mental health both with their peers and also with youth workers or trusted adults in their lives. They have found a sense of community which has enabled them to feel more confident in building relationships.

When I first heard about Bee Heard, I asked to sign up instantly. I was over the moon to have found something that could shape the mental health world while being accessible to everyone. At first, it was just about how to improve the mental health space; however, over time, I realised the meeting was also shaping our own mental health for the better! It helped me make new friends, open up more, and learn to communicate with others in a healthy way. There was no way to feel unwelcome at each meeting; there was always a seat available. Overall, Bee Heard helped me improve myself mentally, which has allowed me to tackle many projects since starting. A real positive experience.”

Bee Heard Member

The group has had opportunities to meet with a variety of stakeholders from across the Greater Manchester mental health sector.

 Being able to talk about mental health with practitioners in a non-clinical setting has provided young people with a safe space to challenge, learn and ensure that their voices are heard directly with those who commission, design and run mental health services in Greater Manchester. 

Two members of Bee Heard also attended the Greater Manchester Children’s Board, to give input to leaders and decision makers about their priorities for young people and mental health.
 

Bee Heard has been recommissioned for a further 2 years to strengthen the relationships with the systemic leads and mental health boards in Greater Manchester has enabled young people’s input into senior levels of health structures, thus enabling young people to both challenge and advise on thematic areas.

The group has had the opportunity to work with a variety of different practitioners across the Greater Manchester mental health sector. Working on Tier 4 and Crisis, CAMHS and CEDs (Community Eating Disorders). 

Young people have explored topics such as All Age Mental Health, 999/111 Mental Health Triage Services and Mental Health in Schools. 

Young people have advised how crisis teams can best respond to young people in an emergency and their suggestions for process improvement have been passed onto crisis team service managers in Greater Manchester. 

This will help to support service improvement in this part of the local mental health sector. Young people have helped to influence the Crisis Care Pathway, including giving feedback on how the service can create better drop-ins for young people away from A&E. 

The group looked at in-patient care including the environment of this form of care, reviewing what should/should not be happening for young people to receive the best care and also inequalities to accessing services. 

Young people have held roundtable events giving a chance to hold practitioners accountable and understand how their voices have been used to create change. 

The pace at which young people can see the change and impact of their input is much slower than they would like, the ecosystem of health and mental health is complex and some changes that young people would hope to make are potentially out of scope. 

There have been useful feedback loops created so that young people know and understand what is possible to change, what can and can’t be achieved and why. 

Also a positive to have decision makers and key commissioners invited into the young people’s space and have direct communication has been extremely positive for all parties.

Youth Focus NW

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