Young people who are members of the We Do Care Seniors group decided they wanted to help improve the communication between professionals and young people. In particular, they wanted their voice to be heard more in relation to how meetings about them are organised and run.
Supported by Youth Participation Workers from Buckinghamshire Council, the young people developed a Top Tips document, which you can see below.
Lots of meetings happen about me. Please…
- Give me a say in where and when my meetings are held
- Don’t me out of class because people ask questions
- Ask me who I would like to attend my meetings
- Explain to me who the people are that attend the meetings and why they are there
- At my meetings, talk to me, as the meetings are about me
- If it’s about me, invite me
Also, please…
- Take time to listen to me
- Be open and honest with me
- Don’t hide information from me, even if it will hurt me
- Ask me my opinion
- Treat me in the way that you would want to be treated
- Treat me the age that I am, not as a child
- Take time to listen to me and ask me how I feel
- Ask me what my preferred method of communication is when we first meet
- Give me information in a format that I can easily understand
- Always call me back promptly when I call you. Respond, even if you say “I can’t talk now and will call you later.”
- Tell me how to make a complaint or compliment
- Tell me about my rights and responsibilities and support me to speak out confidently.
You can also view the Top Tips Document as a PDF.
How did we listen, act and respond?
Listen
Youth Workers from Buckinghamshire Council facilitated conversations with care-experienced young people to identify what aspects of communication they felt needed to improve. Young people were then supported to develop a list of ‘Top Tips’ for professionals.
Act
The Specialist Participation Team produced a branded version of the Top Tips, and shared this with lots of professionals that work with young people in care in Buckinghamshire.
Respond
The Specialist Participation Team responded to young people by
- showing the young people the final, branded version of the Top Tips document
- adding it to the Youth Voice Bucks website so professionals can be easily signposted to it