Young Advisors
Who are our Young Advisors?
Our Young Advisors group is made up of 15 young people from Newcastle who have come together to work as a team to advocate for the need of other young people in the area and use their voices to promote change. The group meet regularly to learn about policy and what goes in to decision making, and how they can make an impact.
Board to Board Development Day
In June 2023, the Young Advisors group were invited to meet with the Child Health and Wellbeing Network (CHWN) to develop relationships and find ways to work together in the future. The Young Advisors group would act as the voice of young people and give advice and guidance on which policies mattered most to them. Joined by Dr Deborah Ralls from Newcastle University and using her Relational Toolkit which she’d developed to begin to plan a Theory of Change, the groups discussed what participation meant to them, and the adults reflected on how they could improve their practice.
Theory of Change
A Theory of Change is an illustrated diagram showing how and why a desired change impacts an existing process or social policy.
From June to November, the Young Advisors group continued to meet regularly to develop their Theory of Change, discussing how adults engage with young people in different settings, and how this could be improved. In November, the group met again with Dr Deborah Ralls and Sajil Kaleem, local artist, to illustrate their final Theory of Change.
Artwork
Working across three boards, the piece shows how the Young Advisors feel now, what needs to be done to change this and how the future could look if their voices are heard.
From the Young Advisors:
We are the Young Advisors: Anna, Ayat, Ebene, Emily, Eva, Georgia, Iniya, Jasmine, Jason, Joe, Kane, Laila, Louise, Thandi, Vihaan and this is our Theory of Change.
As Young Advisors for the Child Health and Wellbeing Network North East and North Cumbria, our artwork was created to represent how we want to change the way adults and children communicate together to make decisions about how to help children’s health and wellbeing. It is split into three sections that show our Theory of Change:
We (the Young Advisors) spent a day creating the artwork with the help of Sajil Kaleem (a local artist) and support from Children North East and Dr Debbie Ralls from Newcastle University.
Throughout the artwork there is a river which symbolises the journey of our Theory of Change, from the problem to the solution. There are also fish, which symbolises us, and everyone else on our journey, as we change the way we interact to be more equal.
The first section of the artwork has a wall between adults and children, and there are also words describing the main problems. But there is hope for change, as there is a door which can lead us to more equality when working together, if we choose to change.
In the middle section the wall starts to break down into jigsaw pieces, which can be the solution if we put them together and do not stop changing. The words become more positive and are the words of change. The river becomes a whirlpool, and the fish inside become the ying and yang, showing how we hope to be equal with both adults and children part of the solution, working together. We chose to use Koi fish, as they symbolise peace and communication.
In the final section the river becomes a waterfall which symbolises our freedom once we are treated equally. The jigsaw pieces fit together to create a sunset, which has bright colours compared to the first section which only had duller colours. The words are what we hope to achieve like ‘communication’ and ‘respect’.
As you look through the sections not only do the words become more positive, the colours become brighter, and the flowers at the bottom have grown more, all showing our journey to change.
Final Presentation
In February 2024, the Young Advisors came together to present their Theory of Change. After coming together many times in the lead up the group felt confident and excited to present their ideas to the CHWN and have a lengthy discussion and share ideas.
The main points the Young Advisors communicated were;
- Ensuring the Young Advisors are always involved in decisions affecting young so they can shape policies and practices.
- The Young Advisors should have opportunities to visit different types of young people with different needs to gather their opinions.
- More recreational and professional meetings with the adult board to promote communication and mutual respect between the groups.
- Ensure all language used is easily understood, and to stay away from using medical terminology without a definition.
Throughout this piece of work, our Young Advisors worked hard to come together and collaborate on this piece of work, using their time to learn new concepts, develop communication and collaboration skills.
‘Being a young advisor has been an amazing experience over the last few years. I feel like it has improved my social skills and I love that the work I do is actually making a difference.’
The next steps for this group will be to find a place to display their artwork long-term so that it can continue to have an impact on other adults who work with children and young people.
Read the full report here
Watch the full final presentation video here
If you would like to learn more about the Young Advisors group, please get in touch with Louis Browning at [email protected] or on 0191 273 3997.
