Giving young people voices in mental health and wellbeing research is key

Children and young people’s voices have become a vital part of the Anna Freud research team’s approach. 

We have been including children and young people in as much of our research as possible, not just in terms of gathering their thoughts on the chosen topic through both quantitative and qualitative means but actually engaging them in how the research should be carried out. 

We have found the results of this to be profound, allowing us to ensure that we are not only asking the right questions in the right way to those involved in our research, but looking at the results in a different way as we are able to review findings from differing perspectives. 

This has also given some young people the impetus to be able to get involved in change and impact their wider communities. 

The #BeeWell programme, set up by David Gregson Family Foundation, University of Manchester, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Anna Freud, created a survey, in partnership with young people, to measure the wellbeing of secondary age pupils, initially in Greater Manchester since 2021 and in 2023 across Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton too.  

Alongside listening to students’ thoughts and ideas, the programme also created a #BeeWell Champions pilot, a youth-led response to the #BeeWell survey results in Greater Manchester, putting the decision-making and money into the hands of young people, who could then use their training and lived experience to best understand what activities would most benefit their peers. 

As part of our six-year national programme HeadStart which explored and tested new ways to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 10–16 and prevent serious mental health issues from developing, we analysed interviews with young people. We developed themes to capture the different types of coping strategies and sources of support that young people described drawing on. We shared these themes with the HeadStart National Young People’s Group and asked for the group’s help to give names and descriptions. The group also helped us to decide how best to present the themes to other young people. This led to the creation of a guide for young people called: How I cope: a young person’s guide. Ensuring that our work was specifically designed for young people by young people and has had very positive feedback. 

My Story and Me was another project we have developed asking young women and girls who are 12–24 years old to help us create videos by recording their answers to the questions ‘Who am I? What is my mental health story? How would I like to be supported?  The work shed light on how powerful and instructive the mental health stories of individuals can be when they are empowered to tell it on their own terms. This work is soon to be expanded to develop a resource library of mental health stories, designed to support and empower other girls and young women to use their voices. 

These projects are just a small insight into the importance of including children and young people in our research and in the wider context of their own mental health and wellbeing. It is therefore imperative to ensure their voices are heard and considered, and it is our ambition to continue to develop and grow this work. 

Anna Freud and our continued approach to participation 

The Evidence Based Practice Unit is a collaboration with Anna Freud and the Faculty of Brain Sciences at UCL (within the Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology), bridging cutting-edge research and innovative practice in children’s mental health. 

Anna Freud marked Children’s Mental Health Week 2024 by launching its first ever Participation Strategy. This strategy formalises how the team will involve children, young people and families in its work moving forwards – a perfect fit for this year’s theme of #MyVoiceMatters.  

Read the new strategy on the Anna Freud website or join the conversation on X (formerly Twitter).