Consultation and Research
At Children North East we have a strong children’s rights ethos and believe that real social change is achieved when those who are, or have, experienced issues lead the change.
We believe the voice of young people is central to improving services for them and understanding issues important to them. We conduct impact driven research and consultation with a wide range of young people to better understand the issues affecting them.
“I have the right to be listened to and taken seriously”
Since 2020, our participation, consultation and research offer has grown significantly. Our work in involving children and young people is innovative, especially in relation to creative methodologies, to ensure that the voice of all young people is heard including young people with SEND/Neurodiversity, very young children, young refugees and economically disadvantaged young people.
We are highly skilled and experienced at leading and delivering consultation and research projects, proud of our ethical approach to participation, consultation and research and experts in working with a diverse range of young people and groups, such as SEND and Neurodivergent young people.
Our work is commissioned by a wide range of stakeholders including Local Authorities, schools, community and charitable organisations, BACP, the NHS and partnership working with respected universities.
We also lead on some key participatory groups and deliver programmes to organisations to help them understand how to incorporate the voice of children and young people within their organisation’s decision making and policy frameworks, such as overseeing the Young Advisors group for the North East and North Cumbria Child Health and Wellbeing Network and our work with the National Trust.
We have a core commitment to ensure that all of our work is impact-focused and that it feeds into wider opportunities to enact change and inform policy decision making.
If you are interested in commissioning a participation, consultation, research or evaluation project, please contact the Development Team at [email protected]
Cross organisational working
Children North East have excellent practice in cross organisational working. Our VOICES project was a collaboration with Newcastle University examining the impact of the pandemic on our young people.
The team spoke to 1,780 children, aged five to 18 from across the North East of England. Most of them came from some of the country’s most deprived areas and they described their experiences in words and in drawings.
“Losing confidence and feeling scared all the time. I don’t know how to feel or how to deal with it.”
Agile research
Our work is frequently commissioned on the basis of our agile working practices and ability to turn projects around within short timescales. We have an in-house ethics system and robust consent procedures allowing us to work at pace to meet the demands of commissioning organisations.
Recent example of short timescale work includes two pieces of research commissioned by the NHS SEND Health Forum, working to understand the barriers young people with additional needs face accessing health settings, and SEND challenging behaviour which sought to explore the experiences of young people with challenging behaviour and their carer’s experience in accessing support.
“At my old school I didn’t get the help I needed I’m autistic. I can’t help doing things sometimes. My old school when I was naughty I had to go and sit in the dining hall by myself and people could see me through the window. When I got into trouble, it was for no reason, they didn’t try to help me. We went to visit other schools… now I come here it’s better because in this one I’ve got Miss X, I’ve got help.”
Pioneering use of creative methodologies
Each project features a tailored consultative process and engagement methods designed to meet its specific needs and overcome any participation barriers. As pioneers in creative methodologies, we combine these innovative approaches with our extensive experience in conducting research on sensitive topics and supporting young people throughout the process. Recently, we collaborated with university partners on groundbreaking research into the impact of Universal Credit on children aged 5-11 years. This collaboration resulted in a Toolkit for professionals to use when conducting research with children and young people.
“I enjoyed thinking about helping other people instead of just thinking about myself all day”
Breaking down barriers
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy funded Children North East to research the barriers children and young people from asylum-seeking backgrounds face when accessing counselling.
This research involved collaborating with partners who had established relationships with these young people and consulting organisations experienced in supporting them. It was essential to build trust and understand their life experiences before discussing mental health barriers.
Consultations were age-appropriate and used interpreters. The research led to changes in our counselling practices, including:
- Switching to a more understanding interpreter service.
- Adopting flexible counselling methods, settings, and formats tailored to the young people’s needs and preferences.
- Ensuring clear communication between the interpreter, young person, and counsellor.
- Taking time to build positive, trusting relationships, acknowledging this may take longer than usual.
Co-design with children and young people
“Neurodivergence is not a choice, it’s not a bag you can put down or something you can turn on and off”
The voice of the young people attending our neuro groups has been used to shape our neurodiversity inclusion training for schools. Only by consulting with young people and genuinely listening to their voices can we begin to meet their individual and bespoke needs.
Our recent consultation on hygiene poverty, involving children and young people aged between 5-18, was co-designed with young people. This approach ensured that the methods were age-appropriate, the questions were framed to allow understanding and that barriers to honest and open responses were removed.
If you are interested in commissioning a participation, consultation, research or evaluation project, please contact the Development Team at [email protected]
