Community Pot Fund: Off The Record BANES
Off the Record BANES supports young people to have better mental health and empower them to have their voices heard.
In the last year they have identified that there is a significant proportion of young people that are engaging with their services who live in rural parts of B&NES. As a result of this they have expanded their Listening Services to operate in Midsomer Norton and Keynsham, as well as enabling young people to engage through their phoneline so that they do not have to access the service in Bath to get help. Whilst speaking to young people they have discovered that the are still many young people who to rely on their parents or carers to travel to their services in BANES.
This project has been created to fully explore the issue of rural isolation and understand the impact this has on young people's ability to engage in health services, specifically mental health provision. They are also seeking to specifically engage young people who identify as LBGT+.
Engagement for the project will be carried out via focus groups, a questionnaire and social media.
Some of the outcomes of this project will be for young people to:
- be better informed about health services available to them
- to have greater confidence about engaging with health services
- give solutions and recommendations on how to reduce the impact on health service availability for those who are rurally isolated or who identify as LGBT+
What has happened since?
OTR BANES have finished their project and the findings have been analysed and put into a final report.
If you are a child or young person or the parent or carer of a child or young person and want to share your experiences of mental health services in B&NES speak to one of the team.
