We still have some way to go to be the local mental health charity young people can count on. Our offer is generally limited to short-term, school-based support. We want to gather deeper insights into young people’s experience of mental health problems locally and understand more about how we can improve their emotional wellbeing. We especially want to work alongside those who experience more severe mental health issues and those who are most disadvantaged or don’t have strong family support.

Rather than offer help based on our existing knowledge and experience of what works, we want to put time and energy into working alongside young people who experience mental health difficulties to understand what would make most difference from their perspectives. We don’t want to form preconceived ideas about what the project might look like. We believe that the people most qualified to design a new service are the people who would benefit from it – in this case, young people.