Eighty students from seven schools across the city took part in an event organised by Wolves Foundation designed to offer them more say in issues around mental health and wellbeing.
The Foundation were delighted to link up with the Barnardo’s Children’s Charity, City of Wolverhampton Council and Black Country ICB (Integrated Care Board) to host the three-hour session at Molineux, including a ‘Dragon’s Den’ task inviting the young people to deliver their ideas.
The hugely successful event also doubled up to highlight the benefits of ‘Health Champions’, a new project funded by the Council and delivered by the Foundation to raise awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing in schools across the city.
“Three years ago Barnardo’s and the Black Country ICB carried out a consultation with nearly 4000 young people about what they want from their healthcare” says Clare Leyland, team manager with Barnardo’s.
“Young people said they wanted to know more about what was available to them, and that one of their biggest concerns was their health and wellbeing, and mental health in particular.
“The information that came out of that consultation has led to four different projects across the Black Country, and the event today is part of one of those projects.
“At Barnardo’s, we have worked with the Wolves Foundation and the Local Authority to bring any schools interested in having health champions to come along today, to be seen and to be heard.
“With the Dragon’s Den format at the end, the public health team and representatives from the Council can take away exactly what the young people are saying, and how they want us to connect with them.
“It’s about the young people being able to make their own contributions and feel like they are part of the process rather than just having the process put on them. The Health Champions project is already delivering some great work and this event can feed straight into it.”
The event included an initial presentation and discussions around a ‘stress container’ – helping young people understand their stress levels and how to understand stress – along with a presentation about the Kooth digital mental health platform, supported by the NHS, which can provide immediate support to those who need it.
School nurses were also represented at the event, outlining their services and taking questions from the young people, along with the X2Y charity, which is dedicated to empowering the LGBTQ+ youth community across the region.
The Dragon’s Den exercise, inviting each school to submit a specific idea to help improve healthcare across the city, saw some excellent presentations made to a panel comprising Anna Morphet (Wolves Women captain and Wolves Foundation ambassador), Louise Sharrod (Principal Public Health Specialist with City of Wolverhampton Council), Emma Allen Smith (Head of School Nursing with Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust), Rebecca Glazzard (Education Psychologist with the City of Wolverhampton Council) and Kathryn Bailey (School Improvement Advisor for SEND with the City of Wolverhampton Council).
Each entry provided some excellent and fascinating insight, before St Edmunds Catholic Academy were named winners by the panel.
“From a public health perspective, we recognise that emotional health and wellbeing is a really big issue in Wolverhampton, and is among our top ten priorities,” said Amanda Evans, Senior Public Health Specialist at the City of Wolverhampton Council.
“We are seeing it more and more in children and young adults, and so events like this are about those people telling us different ways in which we can support them.
“We all use the phrase, ‘it’s ok not to be ok’, but I think underneath that, there should be a strapline that says, ‘it’s not ok to not do anything about it’.
“So we are talking to the young people and acknowledging that we all go through peaks and troughs with our mental health, but we want to know how we can provide the necessary support and help them build the resilience to address any issues.
“It has been an incredible event and the young people have been absolutely engaged in the process and excited about making proposals that are going to support their mental health and wellbeing in the future.
“They have been so creative with their ideas, and so supportive of each other in listening to those ideas, and it shows to me just how cool the students of Wolverhampton really are.”
The Foundation were delighted to help organise and host the event, as part of one of the key pillars of the charity’s strategy aiming to transform lives through targeted health initiatives across the city.
The new Health Champions project is being delivered directly to schools across the city with a focus on promoting health and wellbeing but also empowering students to use their own ideas to suggest potential improvements.
“Our Health Champions project has made a really positive start, not only by raising awareness of key health and wellbeing messages but also by generating valuable feedback from students that will help shape future activity.” says Jade Sutton, Health Improvement Manager with Wolves Foundation.
“We are already delivering in 18 schools across the city, with more to follow.
“It is another powerful example of partnership working which was also the driving force behind this special event at Molineux, bringing so many students from the city together to share their thoughts and experiences.
“It was such a great morning packed with creativity and enthusiasm from the young people who showcased some fantastic ideas for the health professionals to take away and assess.
“I am sure it will spark so many positive conversations and we look forward to the Health Champions project playing a part in similar events in the future.”
