Rochford District Youth Council members were due to provide an update to District Councillors at the full council meeting in April. We was looking forward to presenting our update to Councillors this pandemic has meant many changes for us all.
As part of developing new ways of working as a youth council we have had to work in different ways, we now meet weekly on Zoom to continue our work and have produced the below information and videos to provide an update on our work and progress.
We have also included in the link for our mental health video that we have produced for our campaign.
We hope you take the time to take a look and welcome any questions you have.
Who Are We?
Rochford Youth Council is made up of our Chair, Chloe, our Vice Chair, Neeve, our Press and Media Officer, Georgia, and our Treasurer, Lily-Mae. The rest of the members are Rachael, Ethan, Oliver, Lewis, and Toby.
We would like to make improvements to the community and work on projects that can have a positive impact on people’s lives.
Our Journey Continues
What we have achieved so far:
Teamwork – the Constitution has been agreed and signed, we have increased membership, and have held successful elections
Achievements – We have taken part in a Youth Voice project for violence and vulnerability, held a Mental Health workshop, planned and filmed our first mental health video, and increased followers on social media
Our Next Steps :
We will continue to increase our membership and profile, continue designing and complete our own website, plan a mental health conference, and will launch our mental health campaign to schools
Hear from our Vice Chair, Neeve.
Our Mental Health Campaign
- Our campaign aim is to raise awareness of young people’s mental health issues and reduce stigma
- We draft questions and surveyed young people about their mental health experiences
- We engaged a local film maker to support us with making the video
- We worked on a few ideas, agreed the theme and wrote a story board with set designs and scripts to make our video
- As a group we directed and filmed the video and received support to edit it.
- Launch our video for our campaign
- We have applied for funding to hold a mental health conference for school representatives to provide mental health training to young people and to promote our campaign
We will measure success through surveys and feedback from the community
You can watch our video called Scarlett’s Story.
Young people’s actions we have had included in the Rochford and Castle Point Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy are:
- To show young people that they are not alone, and they can access immediate and relevant information, and longer-term support from helpful organisations across the district
- To raise awareness amongst young people that mental health is a personal issue, which can impact on different people in different ways and it is not just a stereotype
Hear from one of our members, Ethan.
Looking into the Year Ahead
Over the next year we plan to:
- Launch our mental health campaign video on our webpage and on social media
- Increase our membership and the profile of the youth council
- Apply for funding to support delivery of our mental health conference
Hear from our Treasurer, Lily-Mae.
Support Us
Below are some ways you can support us:
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Help to raise our profile across the district
- Help to support our campaign
- Sign up for email alerts: YouthCouncil@rochford.gov.uk
Hear from our Press and Media Officer, Georgia.
Thank you
If you have any questions or wish to give us feedback please do so. We would be happy to hear from you.
Hear from one of our members, Toby.