Agenda item

This report provides the Panel with feedback of the B&NES Young Parliament that took place at Broadlands Academy on Thursday February 11^th 2016.

Jake Bishop-Ponte, Member of Youth Parliament for B&NES introduced this item. He explained that the event took place at Broadlands Academy on Thursday February 11th 2016 and was attended by over 80 young people from 11 different secondary schools, one special school and from a range of settings including Project 28, the CAMHS Young People’s Participation Group, the Youth Forum, Off the Record and SPACE (LGBT Group). He added that the prospective candidates for the B&NES Member of Youth Parliament were also in attendance.

He said that there were 20 accompanying staff and workshop facilitators and 15 guests, including the Chair of the Council, Cllr Ian Gilchrist. He added that staff and students of Broadlands and the Local Authority should be praised for the way the event was held in such a very welcoming environment.

Workshops

There were 4 workshops, co-facilitated by Broadlands students and adults from the Local Authority, Public Health, Off the Record and CAMHS.

Social media and its impact on mental health

What to do if you are a victim of online abuse/harassment?

·  Depending on the situation, not responding might be an appropriate course of action

·  Speak to someone – friend or adult (teacher, parent or police) depending on the circumstances

What actions we can take as an individual / group / school to improve things?

·  Raise awareness of what tools and courses of actions are available to everyone

·  Set up a Cyber Mentoring scheme as they have done in Norton Hill

Sexual Health & Social Media

One group also discussed the impact that sex can have on mental health and that the following should be covered in PSHE. Anxieties around:-

·  Sexually transmitted infections

·  Peer pressure / anxiety about having sex , (feeling their friends have done it and they don’t want to feel left out)

·  Issues of diversity (ensuring that LGBT issues are covered in Sex and Relationships Education)

Keeping mentally healthy and reducing stigma

This group decided on the following recommendations:

·  All schools (staff and students) to sign up to a pledge which covers confidentiality (nothing will be shared unless someone is at risk of significant harm)

·  Slurs of any type are not acceptable - students and staff will challenge this when they occur - there will be consequences for not following this.

·  Diversity will be actively celebrated and each young person’s individual needs catered for. 

Ways to increase self esteem

This group wanted schools to promote kindness and compassion both to fellow students and towards themselves as they believe this leads to better mental health and improved self-esteem.  They would like these issues to be included within PSHE but would also like students to be involved in deciding how their school can promote kindness and compassion. They discussed and identified a range of ways to promote kindness towards themselves and others, such as:-

·  Random acts of kindness

·  Smiling at people

·  Having a happiness book for people to write things to make them happy

·  Doing activities which make you / your friends happy

Where to get help and support on mental health issues

·  All schools to have PSHE Lessons to address what to do if you are worried about a range of issues

·  Access to a safe, peaceful space to go if they feel stressed and anxious. This place could be staffed with a counsellor or someone that has the time to listen to what they are feeling. Or it could be run by young people themselves. It should be able to signpost to leaflets posters or websites for further support and be a comfortable space to relax in. This could inform the Secondary resilience hubs being piloted in our schools. The transformation plan talks about having such hubs in all BANES secondary schools and the college.

·  Schools to provide ideas on self-help. Have posters and/or lessons with lots of ideas to support you if you are feeling down.

·  Assemblies from people who have mental health problems and or work in services like CAMHS

Taking action points back to schools / settings

He said that delegates were reminded to take the list of action points back to their schools and settings and arrange a meeting with the School Leadership Teams to discuss the issues that had been raised at the Parliament. He added that a follow-up meeting of young people representatives will be held in the near future.

Questions to the Expert Panel of adults

He explained that the final session of the day was a question and answer session and delegates to the Parliament had decided on questions to ask the adult panel during their workshops. The panel consisted of Kate Murphy and Judy Allies (School Improvement), Clare Laker (Public Health) , Gill Welsh (CAMHS) , Lisa Benham (Off The Record) and Mike Bowden (Deputy Director , Children and Young People Strategy).

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if any feedback had been received from schools yet regarding the proposals.

Jake Bishop-Ponte replied that from September he would be visiting schools to discuss how they have been implemented. He added that we should be really proud as B&NES is leading the way on this type of work with young people.

The Chairman, on behalf of the Panel thanked Jake and all involved for making the event such a success.