Young Changemakers is a collaboration between UK Youth, Centre for Mental Health, and The Diana Award.
Young Changemakers supports young people with Black and Black mixed-race heritage to channel their lived experiences into tackling racial injustices in mental health services in the UK. The project is led by young Co-Producers aged 16 – 25 with a passion for and/or lived experience of mental health issues and racial injustices. It gives young people with Black and Black mixed-race heritage communities an opportunity to reimagine and affect change through the lens of social action.
Young Changemakers identify as Black or Black-mixed race, are aged 16-25 and are based in Leeds, Luton, Birmingham, Manchester or London.The Changemakers are supported by a local youth organisation, who recruit, onboard, and support the young people through their journey. Changemakers are given the opportunity to change mental health support for the better and affect real change. They will get involved with policy influencing, engaging, and upskilling frontline practitioners, changing public attitudes, and peer-to-peer support.
Each changemaker social action project will have the opportunity receive additional, bespoke support from the partnership on the Accelerator Pathway.
Our group of Co-Producers, aged 16-25, with Black and Black mixed-race heritage, have lived experience and/or a passion for supporting mental health. They are involved in the development of training for youth organisations and schools to help further antiracist work and improve health and wellbeing for young people across the nation. They also support design content for various projects and support the new Changemakers in the programme, alongside receiving pastoral care and upskilling opportunities.
Spirit of 2012 awarded The Diana Award with funding to build on the legacy of the Young Changemakers Programme, to develop and deliver Anti-Racist Bullying Training to secondary schools. After the session, we offer students and educators 12 months of tailored support and resources to create real impact their school, community and beyond.
This resource was co-produced with young people to equip educators with knowledge and tools to understand, recognise, and respond to racist bullying in schools.
As part of our commitment to co-production throughout the Young Changemakers Programme, we’ve developed this resource alongside our Co-Producers.
It provides those working with young people an understanding of co-production, tools for inclusive and collaborative practices, and insights into meaningful engagement with young people who have lived experience.
For questions, please contact our Young Changemakers Team.
International Youth Day, celebrated annually on 12 August, is a global celebration of the contributions, aspirations, and potential of young people around the world. It is a day of significance at The Diana Award, and to celebrate this year, we asked two young people from across our programmes to talk about a topic close to their hearts. This article, written by Iola Nkau, Co-producer on The Diana Award Young Changemakers Programme, highlights the difficulty young people have in finding and accessing GP services. The second article, written by Centre for Social Action Co-Designer, Obinna Emmanuel Ezeani, highlights the need for youth inclusion and diverse representation in decision-making processes.
The Young Changemakers Programme is a collaboration between UK Youth, Centre for Mental Health, and The Diana Award, funded by the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery. In June, our Co-Producers came together for a residential at Avon Tyrell to reimagine mental health services with the aim to better understand what young people from Black and Black mixed-race heritage in the UK think is working in our current mental health system, what needs to change, and how these changes should be implemented. This blog explores the challenges faced by young people of Black and Black mixed-race heritage in the UK regarding mental health services and highlights the need for cultural competence, accessibility, and representation in mental health support.
Young Black people continue to face hurdles in society on a regular basis, with the global pandemic exacerbating this (Centre for Mental Health, 2022). However, thanks to The Diana Award’s Young Changemaker, young people have been working hard to counter these barriers.
