Recruitment begins for new youth advisory group

The Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health is inviting young people to form a new youth advisory group.

The Wolfson Centre team is looking to recruit young people between the ages of 14-25 with lived mental health experience to join their new Youth Advisory Group.

Professor Frances Rice, co-director of the Wolfson Centre, said “We would like to invite young people to take part in an ongoing programme of research to help us shape the work we are doing at the Wolfson Centre."

“We’ve already produced a lot of research in this area across the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences. Now we want to do more to work jointly with young people who have lived experience of the challenges we work on - we want to put these experiences and voices at the heart of the Centre’s work."

Emma Meilak, the Wolfson Centre Administrative Officer who is leading the formation of the group, added: “Our Youth Advisory Group will help shape the Centre’s work by guiding us on the research questions that are important to young people, as well as advising us on how we undertake our research."

“We would like young people to assist us in understanding what the research findings mean to them and to suggest how the findings could be used to improve what happens in real life for young people with lived experience of mental health challenges.”

Insights from the group will be communicated directly to the Wolfson Centre’s Implementation and Engagement Board which includes advisors to government, policymakers, charities that support young people’s mental health, as well as people who work for and with young people such as doctors and psychologists.

In return for their input, young people will receive training in research methods and other skills that may appeal, such as CV writing, chairing a meeting, and producing digital content for the Centre’s digital and social media platforms.

Professor Rice concluded, "We are thrilled with the response we’ve received so far since beginning our recruitment for the Youth Advisory Group last month but there’s still plenty of time for interested young people to sign up."

To express your interest or learn more about getting involved, please get in touch at wolfsonyoungpeople@cardiff.ac.uk