Thank you to Young Partners this #BlackHistoryMonth

For #BlackHistoryMonth Peer Power Youth celebrated the recent work of young partners in the NHS Violence Reduction Programme where they led engagement workshops with their peers in local communities. Peer Power’s young partners co-produced planned and facilitated these sessions. We thank young partners for sharing these experiences so that the NHS can learn from youth voices and use this insight to shape services that are more centred around young peoples’ needs.
The work of the young partners is changing lives and systems to empower and uplift young Black People, ensuring their voices are shaping services. Read more

We describe young people as ‘young partners’ to demonstrate a collaborative relationship between the charity, funders/commissioners and young people. Our aim is to improve, share power, co-create and listen to communities.

System change can often take time and can be difficult to determine, but the work that young partners do, DOES, change systems and lives for the better.

On #BlackHistoryMonth we wanted to amplify the voices of young partners and celebrate the work that they do to empower and uplift young Black People, ensuring their voices are shaping services.

What recent work has young partners delivered?

Between June and July 2022, young partners from Peer Power Youth delivered a series of workshops across 3 locations in London exploring topics such as inequalities, identity, and race in relation to healthcare.

The locations were based in the NHS Violence Reduction Programme (VRP) Vanguard areas representing North-East London (Waltham Forest Offending Service), North Central London (Bruce Grove Youth Space) and South-East London (Active communities, Elephant and Castle).

What is the NHS Violence Reduction Programme?

Peer Power Youth, as the partner, supports participants to engage effectively with the VR programme so that their experiences and insights inform what the health system in London can do for those impacted by violence.

What did young partners achieve?

Peer Power’s young partners co-produced planned and facilitated these sessions. In this piece of work, we thank young partners for sharing these experiences so that the NHS can learn from these voices and use this insight to shape services that are more centred around young peoples’ needs.

Young people after participating in the workshops:

“I feel like no one really asks people, or people in general, how they are valued or feel valued by the NHS or what they truly think of NHS”

“I’m feeling sunny – it’s really good to hear people’s perspectives”

“I liked the fact that the power is put in our hands, feel that all the inequalities have deteriorated”

To find our latest reports and research see here.