Children & Young Peoples’ Mental Health Forum

Berkshire West

“I’ve found the Forum very helpful. I think young people taking about mental health and actually being heard and listened to it a such a powerful movement.”

CYP Mental Health Forum Participant

At Mind in Berkshire we create safe spaces where young people can share their views and experiences on mental health and discuss what their priorities are. We link students with partner organisations to work together to create joint responses and make impactful change.

Get involved and have your voice heard

Our Children and Young Peoples’ Mental Health Forums are accessible to all Berkshire West senior schools.

We encourage students to take part wherever they are in Berkshire West and whatever their year group. All voices of young people are important and deserve to be listened to.

Whatever your ethnicity, sexuality, gender, nationality, economic background, religion or beliefs, your physical or mental health your voice will be heard and acknowledged.

Young people play a key role in setting up the forums, agreeing how they should work; the choice of topics; what communication channels to use; how often they should meet; the ground rules for the forums and how to monitor and evaluate them.

The forums have discussed a range of subjects including:

• Don’t just tell me to breathe! Mental health self-care
• Causes of mental health problems inside and outside of school
• Where do you go for mental health support

We continue to work with schools and students outside of the forums to address issues they raise. We believe that change should be done with people, rather than to them, and that change should be led by the people it concerns.

Our overarching goal is to achieve honest dialogue, positive professional and power-balanced relationships, and truly meaningful work for long-term effective solutions.

Get in touch

If you would like to find out more or if you’re interested in your school taking part in the network, please email [email protected]