Project Background
Funded by National Lottery Community Fund, Mind Our Future Gwent (MoFG) is a project which aims to design new ways to prevent mental health challenges from developing or getting worse across Gwent.
ProMo-Cymru and Newport Mind formed a partnership with all the local youth services and local Minds across Gwent.
The project goal is to ensure that young people get the right support at the right time, wherever they turn for help.
We will build on what is already working in Gwent, identify the gaps in services provided, and focus on developing and improving these to better support young people.
Our methodology is to co-design with young people, so in January 2023, we set out to recruit a group of young peer researchers to aged 16-25, to form the Mind Our Future Gwent Peer Researchers group.
By February we had recruited 10 enthusiastic young people from each local authority area in Gwent and began training them as peer researchers. The training involved their induction as paid members of staff, information about service design (with a focus on the discovery phase), research methods, and how to talk to young people about mental health.
After Easter, we started working with the peer researchers to co-produce a plan of how we would gather data about young people’s mental health experiences and needs in Gwent. This data will form the findings of our upcoming report.
Spotlight on Amanda
One of the peer researchers, Amanda, shared her experience during this period:
Researching my peers
In order to better understand the experiences of young people in Gwent with regard to mental health services, we have asked our peers for their feedback through multiple sources, ranging from surveys to focus groups. We believe this will give us the most comprehensive results from the whole age range (11-25), from each local authority, and from all backgrounds.
Personally, I preferred conducting research through 1-1 interviews, as it allowed me to ask the most relevant follow-up questions to gather the most detailed opinions and experiences.
AMANDA, 17
However, I also appreciate the merits of the other types of research:
surveys enable us to gather more individual responses, while focus groups allow the interviewees to bounce ideas off one another.
My learning so far
During the process, I have learnt valuable skills, which I am confident will be useful in the future. Interviews require us to ask relevant impromptu follow-up questions, which helped me practise critical thinking skills.
Furthermore, I look forward to analysing the data and producing the reports, allowing me to use a different set of skills. I have also gained an insight into what my peers here in Gwent think of the mental health services available.
Conducting focus groups provided me with a conversation structure, which helps me feel more confident when talking to my peers (as opposed to my usual quiet personality).
One thing I’ve learnt about myself from this experience is that I communicate much better with others if I plan the conversation beforehand. I will certainly make use of this technique in the future.
Throughout the research, I felt proud that I contributed to enabling young people in the area to show their opinion on the current mental health services, whether that be past experience or hopes for the future. I am also excited to soon be able to publish our findings.
Stakeholder meeting
Now that the research has been gathered from over 150 young people in Gwent, we are working on analysing the data and exploring emerging themes. These will form the basis of our Discovery report.
Our findings so far will be shared at a stakeholder meeting held online via Zoom.
Your attendance is very valuable at this stage, so please make every effort to get involved.
Wednesday 26th July
11 AM - 1 PM
Meet the Peer Researchers
Our team of nine peer researchers are supported by staff in
ProMo-Cymru and Newport Mind.
Blaenau Gwent
ELLA
I’m Ella, 16 from Ebbw Vale in Blaenau Gwent. Becoming a peer researcher interested me as I feel like mental health support in Gwent needs improvement. For example, there are really long waiting lists and there's a huge difference in the level of support you get depending on which support worker you get.
I also want to become a therapist when I leave education, so I feel like this experience will help me to develop skills in this area.
Caerphilly
Hi, I’m Lexy, 23 from Caerphilly. I was interested in getting involved with Mind Our Future Gwent because I want to make a difference.
My ambition is to become a support worker so I can pass on what I have learnt and help improve the lives of others.
Lexy
amanda
rhi
Monmouthshire
I’m Amanda, 17 from Monmouthshire. I joined the project mostly from my interest in empowering my peers’ voices. This is also a great opportunity for me to get an insight in gathering data through interviews and focus groups.
Hi I’m Rhi, I am 18 from Monmouthshire. I love being a peer researcher because it allows me to understand more about the needs of other people and to help young people know that they are enough. Originally, I joined the project because I wanted to work in mental health, and I thought this project would be a great way to start my career and to learn more about mental health.
As well as having the opportunity to speak to young people and provide support to others, I’m also grateful to have had a chance to get to work alongside like-minded people to shape the future for young people in Gwent.
Being a peer researcher has reminded me of the importance of being open and honest about mental health, and I’ve learnt about why this can be beneficial.
Running a smaller focus group was an amazing opportunity, it meant I could listen and support two young people, and I could learn more about the issues that may arise from certain services, so we can improve this in future.
eli
I'm Eli, I'm 17 and from Monmouthshire. The initial part of the project that drew me to apply was the focus on young people being at the heart of the process regarding mental health research. This is so important to me as young people are often disengaged with their own care, so empowering young people to talk about the care they received and its improvements is inspirational to me.
My favourite part of the project so far is talking with so many resilient young people who have had such great ideas for the future of mental health services. Also talking to my colleagues and getting to know other young people passionate about mental health.
Whilst being part of the Mind Our Future Gwent project, I have developed confidence in myself to have conversations I've previously found hard to have around mental health.
Newport
Hi, I’m Rachael, 18, from Newport. I wanted to become a peer researcher for Mind Our Future Gwent because this opportunity allows me to further my understanding of mental health and its effect on the Gwent community, as well as to develop my interpersonal skills.
Rachael
Hi, I’m Fatma, 17, from Newport. Young people's mental health is crucial, and I’ve been working very hard on this important problem. As well as the work I’m doing as a peer researcher for Mind Our Future Gwent, I’m also looking at young people’s mental health in the Welsh Youth Parliament.
Fatma
Hi, I’m Mali! I’m 16 and live in Newport. When I first heard about the MOFG project, I got really excited, as I’m incredibly passionate about providing young people with opportunities to share their opinions and experiences. This is especially relevant in the field of mental health, where our generation is facing new problems that only we can truly understand, for example, living through the Covid-19 pandemic.
So far, my experience with the project has been incredible and empowering, and I’ve loved forming new relationships with the other researchers and the incredible mentors who have been so helpful and kind. I’ve learnt so much from this project, whether that be how to conduct focus groups on sensitive topics while still maintaining boundaries or how to write up and present data. I can’t wait to watch this project grow over the next few months!
Mali
Torfaen
helen
Hi, I’m Helen, 17, from Torfean. When I was sent the application for this project, I sent off my application and didn’t think much of it. But when I got an interview back from it and heard more about the project, I became so interested and excited. Now I feel so blessed and excited about this experience that has been offered by MoFG.
This project has opened my eyes and mind to the circumstances, situations and problems that young people face with their mental health issues in the Gwent. I have gained many life-changing and empowering skills from this experience, from interviewing and research skills to empathising with others while staying professional. I’ve practised having difficult conversations with others and being comfortable and confident to have those conversations. I have learnt so much and am grateful to be a small part of a very important project.
Many thanks to Chloe, our tenth peer researcher, for all her hard work on the project.
Chloe left the project due to other commitments, but we are very thankful for her contributions.
What we're working on
Residential
We're planning an in-person residential from 7 - 9 August 2023 in Cardiff Bay for the Peer Researchers.
Stakeholder Engagement
Increasing our Stakeholder network and providing you with relevant information.
Report
Data analysis and writing the Discovery Report for Year 1 of the project.
Peer Researcher Support
Running weekly sessions with Peer Researchers to support them in their roles, including mentor meetings.
Keep in touch!
Email Address
info@mindourfuturegwent.co.uk
Social Media
Please email us if you'd like to be part of our stakeholder network.
Ariannir gan / Funded by
Cyflwynir gan / Delivered by
Partneriaid / Partners
