NHS Kent and Medway asked young people to organise the ‘Lifting the Lid’ Young Adults Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference, so that mental health services can be based on the lived experience of people who use them.
Throughout the day, people working in the NHS, local councils, schools, universities, colleges and voluntary and community sector organisations, listened to young people sharing their stories.
They also discussed together ideas about how their experience ‘could have been better if…’
The conference opened with a video address from Claire Murdoch, NHS England's National Mental Health Director, who said: “I think it would be better if we all listened to young people more and act on what you tell us.
“That’s why I really look forward to hearing what you come up with today and that the outcomes contribute to the ongoing journey of transforming services.”
“I’d like to commend NHS Kent and Medway for hosting this conference co-produced and led by young people to focus on the challenges faced by 16 to 25 year-olds.”
Dame Eileen Sills, Chief Nurse of NHS Kent and Medway, attended the conference to hear what young adults had to say about local services. She said: “It would be better if we could always be kind to each other, to listen to each other and to respect each other”
Mental health workers listened with respect to young people sharing their stories and then worked together to come up with actions that could be taken to improve their experience.
The Lifting the Lid conference is the first in a series of events to be organised by NHS Kent and Medway so young people continue to have a voice in developing the support they need to look after their mental health.