Young Black Mental Health
I write to share some information about a mental health research project we are supporting with a national charity called MIND.
In February this year Voyage was commission by MIND to support their enquiry into the impact of mental health on young people due to the 2020 governmental enforced lockdown. We chose to support this research to ensure the voices of young people are heard so any new guidance, policies and funding took account of more nuanced views.
To support this enquiry Voyage was asked to dig deeper into the issues due to a dearth of young black people not completing the digital survey and to come up with practical solutions to address this deficit. In line with our values and vision we chose to take a peer led approach and appointed youth development team and tasked them to problem solve.
A youth development team of 12 was formed and appointed to be trained by two amazing charities (4 Young Minds lead by Denise Brown and Universal Board Games lead by Mem and Vicky) to build young peoples knowledge, skills and confidence on the subject. At the same time young people created resources which can be shared when they engage young people in schools and community settings. Our young people were also trained on how to deliver an effective social media campaign, run structured workshops/ focus groups, how to field questions from young people on black mental health and where to get support. This training was supported by our experienced tutor Duane Maddison and our youth team are now poised to deliver mental health workshops and focus across schools and communities in North East London over the coming weeks. The communications team are now scheduling visits in Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets and welcome more opportunities to engage with young black people in different locations.
Just so you know we are offering free 15 – 60 minute mental workshops (online and to assemblies) to schools and community organisation to present how young people can take care of themselves and stay safe. We also aim to encourage them to complete the survey and create more awareness about how COVID19 will continue to affect black young people post vaccination.
All our presentations will be lead by our skilled team of tutors supported by our amazing development team of lived experienced young people.
We are also conducting a series of round tables taking place in late March/April 2021, where all 15 participants will get a ￡10 Amazon voucher for their time and contribution. If you are interested in taking part kindly reach out to us on [email protected] so we can book a workshop or focus group. If you simply wish to contribute to the survey kindly click the link below. Feel free to share this with your network and we look forward to hearing from you.