Helping people find their voice is crucial when it comes to health and social care.
From 1 April, a new organisation will be in place that will give people an opportunity to share their views about Kent’s health and social care services to see where they are doing well and how they could improve.
Three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health problem, one in 5 has an eating disorder and one in twelve self-harms
What is safe?
Safe is a youth-led project, which aims to reduce suicide through raising awareness of mental health, breaking down, stigma, getting young people to talk about their feelings, recognise the danger signs and to seek support, if and when they need it.Our Safe committee members are sixth formers form a variety of schools in South West Kent, with plans being implemented to expand across Kent, starting in the Maidstone Borough with a pilot running in Maplesden Noakes School.
Who are we?
We are a group of sixth formers from local schools in West Kent and we have formed a committee The schools currently represented include TWGGS, TOGGS, Judd, Beechwood, Bennett Memorial and K College. But if you’re interested in finding out more please contact us on safe@vawk.org.uk we would always welcome new people.
What we’ve done
The initial stages of the project have been around planning and gathering information. We have carried out 2 surveys – one to discover the understanding and knowledge of the committee members and the other aimed at Y7 – Y9 to find out the actual situation among young people. Check our events page for more details.
Working in Schools
We aim to have a presence within local schools providing information and peer support. This includes assemblies and discussion groups as well as drop in sessions for students to access information in freetime.
One of our committee members, Katya has been working with Battlefront (a Channel Four production company) and has designed a campaign to encourage young people to talk openly about mental health to break down stigma. Katya is lobbying Government to get a national youth ambassador for mental health. Please visit Katya’s site and sign up to her petition. You can also follow Katya on Facebook and Twitter.
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