Youth Voice

At the heart of everything we do at Young Gloucestershire is the voice of young people. We make sure young people are heard in multiple ways:

Personalised support: Every young person’s voice is listened to by the youth worker they work with. This might include designing their own action plans, setting personal goals, or choosing what they want to focus on in their support.

Youthful perspective in our team: On average, 30% of our staff are under the age of 30. This means we have team members who understand the communities we serve and can use their insight to shape and improve our services.

Formal consultation: We regularly consult young people through surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, and one-to-one interviews. For example, a recent externally evaluated research project used focus groups and interviews alongside tools like WEMWBS and CORE+ to understand the impact of our work and measure outcomes.

Youth voice groups: We run groups, such as our partnership with YAS, which explore young people’s experiences of mental health services. These groups help shape services based on what young people actually need.

Opportunities for wider impact: We create platforms for young people’s voices to influence wider decisions, including local commissioning projects. For instance, we’ve supported the ILP in Tewkesbury to understand the needs of young people in areas affected by new housing developments.

Peer research: Funded projects often employ young people as peer researchers, allowing them to lead investigations into issues that matter most to them. A recent example is the Peer Active Collective across the South West, which explored the impact of violence on young people from their perspective.

By embedding young people’s voices across everything we do, we ensure our services are relevant, responsive, and shaped by the experiences of those who use them.