Youth Matters - #BeeWell

At #BeeWell we want to make young people’s wellbeing everyone’s business, and to do that we need you!

We want you and others like you to be at the centre of everything we do, shaping our plans and driving our actions.  

There are lots of ways you can get involved to make your voice heard and champion wellbeing for young people across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton (HIPS).

Youth Matters – This important and essential group meets monthly to shape the direction of #BeeWell and ensure young people’s voices continue to be central to what we do.

What is #BeeWell’s Youth Matters group?

Youth Matters is the youth steering group for #BeeWell in HIPS and is open to young people aged 12-18 from across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton.

We meet monthly online in the early evening and in-person in school holidays.

What do members do?

Share opinions on what the important issues are for young people’s wellbeing, and what should be done about it
Work with the #BeeWell team to understand what the #BeeWell data tells us about young people’s wellbeing
Influence the future of the #BeeWell programme
Sometimes get involved in activities to represent #BeeWell, and speaking to the media
Be involved in spending money on related projects.

What do you get out of it?

Meeting young people from across the area and make new friends
Learning new skills in teamwork, campaigning and speaking
Having a say in what should be done to improve young people’s well-being
Getting involved in exciting projects
Gaining experience for your CV

What have we done so far?

Reviewed survey questions and suggested alternative wording that is more relevant to young people and easier to understand
Helped shape a well-being podcast for young people by young people
Supported the development of communications material and resources
Judged the #BeeWell prize entries from schools and awarding prizes
Led a youth panel for the recruitment of the co-creation project lead
Undertaken a youth led a county-wide ballot with schools and youth groups to influence how the youth commissioning fund is spent
Helped commission partners to deliver initiatives to make positive changes.

Young Researchers Programme

The Young Researchers Programme is run by the University of Manchester and is a ‘citizen science’ type programme that is run online with Year 10 students from HIPS and Greater Manchester. 

Over 5 fortnightly sessions, you’re introduce to the world of research, with a focus on wellbeing.  Over the 5 sessions you’ll co-create a set of research questions that we answer using the #BeeWell data and which we write up into a #BeeWell Brief. 

If this is an opportunity you’d like to take part in, please get in touch via HIOWBeeWell@hants.gov.uk and we will share the appropriate resources and consent forms.

Additionally, a group of young researchers were supported by local voluntary organisation Breakout Youth to analyse #BeeWell findings for LGBTQ+ young people, and provide context from their lived experience, and develop recommendations for schools and partners to act on.