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Youth Board

The Youth Board is for young people aged 14 to 25 years old. It is open to anyone who lives or studies in Herefordshire or Worcestershire.

You will have an opportunity to help shape the way in which NHS services are delivered. The Youth Board meets once a month usually online. They meet to discuss ideas, give their feedback, share insights, and develop new skills. The group provides a voice for all young people to make sure our services are the best they can be.  

Sign up:

For Worcestershire email Trudy at tneal@nhs.net

For Herefordshire email Karen at karenbent@nhs.net

You can also read our FAQs below for more information. 

 

Image of colourful Youth Board logo on a white background

 

How will volunteering help me?

Did you know, volunteering can help with improved wellbeing. It can increase happiness and ease depression and anxiety. Volunteers can also experience feeling less lonely. Young people often find they also gain experience and can have a boost in confidence.

Whilst volunteering you will be offered a range of training opportunities. You will get an insight into the NHS and how it works, which can all be added to your CV.

Read a blog from current Youth Board member Matt on how Youth Board helped them. Youth Board as a stepping stone for future careers - Matt.pdf [pdf] 85KB

What do you do on Youth Board?

We give young people a voice in Trust services to make them more accessible. This includes Mental Health, Sexual Health, Therapy (Speech and Language, Physiotherapy) or dentistry. These are some of the services the Trust looks after.

The Trust’s youth board has now been running for over 10 years. In that time young people have supported projects like;

  • Developing Apps for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

  • Look at the information sent to make them more friendly and understandable.

  • Do campaigns to help other young people. For example our Reach Out Campaign: https://camhs.hacw.nhs.uk/reachout-music

  • Supporting the development of new sexual health website pages.

  • We also train you to be able to sit on Interview panels for people applying to work in Young People services.

 

How often do you meet?

Usually once a month in the evening online, depending on what young people want to do. Although we do like to meet face-to-face too.

 

How much of my time will I be expected to give?

We ask young people to commit to at least 3 hours a month to attend the meetings and support projects we are working on. But, we understand that sometimes you have other commitments; we can be flexible.

 

How will I be supported?

When you become involved in Youth Board you are valued as an individual. We will support you throughout your time volunteering with us.  We also help ensure that opportunities are open to as wide a group as possible.

For more information email Trudy at tneal@nhs.net or Karen at karenbent@nhs.net

 

Do I have to be a current patient/service user?

No. Many of our young people aren’t current patients/service users.

 

Interested in finding out more or signing up?

For more information email Trudy at tneal@nhs.net or Karen at karenbent@nhs.net

 

Hear more about the Youth Board from Matt in our short video below: