Youth Involvementlearning from young people

Listening to and learning from young people is the most

effective way to understand what

young people want and need. It is central to our work in alcohol and drug prevention. Young people’s views inform and extend our practice, and ensure

greatest impact.

Youth involvement benefits young people,

recognising and extending their skills,

giving them the confidence to become active citizens. Young

people leave our projects believing they

have can effect real and lasting change in

their communities.

How we involve young people

Project Planning

Project Delivery

Consultations

Research

Evaluation

Campaigning

Project Planning

• Young people design their project; the content, timeframes and activities.

• They determine research areas and methodology based on their enthusiasms, experiences and skills.

• They support Mentor to identify key areas which will help to prevent alcohol and drug use.

• Mentor incorporates young people’s views into its project and organisational planning.

Project Delivery

• Young people carry out peer research.

• Peer educators design their training tools and sessions.

• Peer educators deliver alcohol and drug sessions to young people.

• Young people deliver seminars and conferences.

• They share their work with other young people through consultative events and presentations.

• They develop toolkits to support organisations to address alcohol and drug prevention.

Consultation

• Young people’s work and ideas are shared with government departments, MPs and policy advisors.

• Young people involved with youth offending teams (YOTs) are consulted about the extent to which alcohol may be linked to risk-taking behaviours.

Research

• Young people determine what research to carry out.

• They carry out surveys and focus groups with peers.

• They deliver their findings and recommendations to policy-makers, practitioners, young people and others interested in alcohol and drug prevention.

Evaluation

• Young people provide feedback on projects and resources.

• Young people’s reference groups are established to help shape project evaluation.

• They are involved with the evaluation of their own projects, including determining methodology and delivering detailed feedback for specific external evaluation areas.

• Young people are on panels judging best alcohol prevention programmes.

Campaigning

• Young people initiate campaigns around areas they are passionate about.•They are supported to take their ideas, findings and recommendations to policy makers.•They share their messages via social media, at conferences and seminars.

Breaking Out

London Youth Involvement Project

STAND Awards

Coastal and Ex-Mining Areas Project

Mentor Youth Involvement Project

Rural Youth Involvement Project

Muslim Youth Involvement Project

Peer Education Project

CHAMP Awards

Alcohol, Offending and Deprivation Project

A Legacy of Youth Involvement