On Thursday 5th June, Sussex Central YMCA’s Youth Advice Centre was pleased to receive a visit from Sir Al Aynsley Green, Children’s Commissioner for England. The Commissioner has been visiting children and young people across the country to hear their ideas and opinions about what the government can do for them.
Nine young people aged between 17 and 24 took part in the event at the Youth Advice Centre, which was filmed by Channel 4. The event featured on Channel 4 News at 12pm on Monday 9th June and is now available on the Channel 4 News Website. After the discussions, Sir Al Aynsley-Green thanked Sussex Central YMCA for inviting the young people and stated that they were ‘singing the praises’ of the Youth Advice Centre staff, he said he was ‘very impressed’.
Sussex Central YMCA Youth Advice Centre
The young people were from Sussex Central YMCA Support Services department, some coming from the Experience in MIND programme, which is a partnership programme with MIND in Brighton & Hove, funded by Vinvolved. These young people have been involved in delivering training to professionals around young people and mental health issues.
Sam Taylor, Co-ordinator for Experience in MIND said, “it was great that he was really interested in young people’s points of view, and wanted to talk about mental health experiences, especially about when professionals haven’t been very responsive; he was keen to make sure that young people’s voices were heard”.
Eleanor van Emden, Information & Advice Services Manager at the Youth Advice Centre said, “there was a really good buzz from the young people that took part and you could see that it was important to them that they were listened to and were invited to offer their opinions – I hope we can do more events like this!”
Any young people can send their opinions to the Children’s Commissioner about what the government can do for them online at www.11million.org.uk
