Youth Voice Matters Aberdeenshire
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YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE Aberdeenshire’s Youth Participation Update April – June 2018 This newsletter aims to keep you up to date with youth engagement, action and representation in Aberdeenshire. Updates are provided by youth practitioners and our members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, Year of Young People (YoYP18) Ambassadors, Aberdeenshire Youth Forum, Community Youth Platforms and Specific Youth Issue/Interest Groups. Page 1 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE Contents include updates from Year of Young People YOYP2018 Signature Events Aberdeenshire Youth Forum Aberdeenshire MSYPs YOYP Ambassadors Specific Interest Groups Pupil Participation Forum Young People’s Participation & Campaigning Group (YPOC) Gypsy traveller representative Davie Donaldson Banchory Skatepark Crew LGBTQ+ Groups Community Youth Platforms (CYPs) North Aberdeenshire Youth Platforms Banff Youth Platform Huntly Youth Platform Insch Youth Platform Fraserburgh Youth Platform Turriff Youth Platform Peterhead Youth Platform Mintlaw Youth Platform Central Platforms Alford Youth Platform Inverurie & Port Elphinstone Youth Platforms Meldrum Youth Platform Ellon Youth Action Group Kemnay Youth Platform South Aberdeenshire Youth Platforms Stonehaven Youth Platform Portlethen Youth Platform Aboyne Youth Platform Mearns Youth Platform Aberdeenshire Youth Bank Aberdeenshire Shadow Youth Management Team Inspiring Aberdeenshire Award Ceremony Page 2 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE Year of Young People #YOYP2018 Signature Events From April – June, there have been three YOYP2018 Signature events. One in Tarves, one in the Mearns and one in Inverurie. Celebrating 20 years of Tarves Hut was our third #yoyp2018 event of the year which took place on a beautiful sunny day on the 26th May at Tarves Primary School. The local yoyp2018 ambassadors and young people who meet up in the hut organised the event and ensured that there were plenty of activities for young people to have fun. One parent said, “This is a fantastic community event, my children have had a blast, there are so many things to see and do. What a great atmosphere” One young person in P6 said “I’m really excited about coming along to the Hut after the school holidays. It’s really cool and it looks like fun” The Mearns Mental Health and Wellbeing event took place on the 14th June. It was an informative and engaging evening organised by local ambassadors, the Mearns Youth Forum and local MSYP. They invited several organisations who provided information and resources to support young people and their parents on issues. At the event young people gave presentations and a film produced by the forum highlighted exam stress and techniques and advice by young people to manage their anxieties. Emma Cameron was the keynote speaker and she engaged the audience in conversation and awareness of mental health and wellbeing. Page 3 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE Comments and feedback by those in attendance including parents and teachers was very positive. The Garioch Mind Your Health event took place on the 26th June with 109 Young People from Inverurie, Port Elphinstone, Hatton of Fintray, Old Meldrum, Ellon, Kemnay, Insch, Alford, Turriff, Kintore, Aboyne, Banchory, Mearns, Tarves and Blackburn in attendance. As well as healthy food options and activities, young people had the opportunity to take part in workshops provided by the NHS, ADP and Kemnay Youth Platform on Mental Health, Pharmacies and Smoking cessation, Sexual Health and Alcohol and Drugs Information. Feedback was very positive. Page 4 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE Aberdeenshire Youth Forum AYF On Saturday the 28th April twenty-one #yoyp2018 ambassadors and supporters met at Garioch community centre and spent the morning participating in a conversation café on drugs and alcohol. Their views will be shared with the GIRFEC Thematic subgroup on substance misuse. In the afternoon, the group visited Haddo estate and met with the Visitors Services Officer to explore the site for the Big Mash-Up festival and make decisions about the location of the various activities planned for the event. With good weather on our side, we enjoyed a picnic on the grounds of the estate. The YOYP Big Meet-Up – 28th April 2018 At the beginning of June, on a hot and sunny day the group met with Young Scot and Transport Scotland to participate in a co-design session on transport issues which will inform the National Transport Strategy for Scotland. Despite the heat, the young people contributed a great deal in looking to the future of transport. Page 5 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE In the afternoon, we discussed the application for Aberdeenshire Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing project and two young people participated in short films to endorse the funding application. The group also focused on identifying volunteer roles for the Big YOYP2018 Signature MASH Up event. The YOYP Big Meet-Up – 2nd June 2018 Aberdeenshire’s MSYPs Aberdeenshire MSYPs attended the 65th National Sitting and 2018 Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Youth Parliament on 9th and 10th June in Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway. At this Sitting, MSYPs selected public transport as the organisation’s new national campaign. Watch this space for updates on the campaign in Aberdeenshire. Emma Holmes MSYP has already started asking young people about the problems they face travelling locally and plans on releasing an online survey to determine the areas to be focused on for the campaign. Following a consultation in her local area, Lauren McGill MSYP found that mental health issues were a top priority for young people. As part of her work in the Mearns Youth Forum, the group recently organised a mental health and well-being awareness evening. The event took place on 14th June and saw parents attend workshops from charities and presentations from the forum. The aim of this evening was to highlight the Page 6 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE support available for young people experiencing mental health issues. This was a huge success and feedback was very positive. In early June, Josh MacRae MSYP and Sasha Brydon MSYP were returned as Community Councillors for Inverurie and Kemnay, respectively. On 18th June, Josh was elected as the new Chair of Inverurie Community Council, the youngest recorded in Aberdeenshire and, potentially, Scotland. Josh and Sasha were involved in planning meetings (chaired by Sasha) for the Central Aberdeenshire YOYP event, Mind Your Health, which was held in Inverurie on 26th June. Both MSYPs also attended the Shadow Management Team meeting prior to the Mind Your Health event. Some of Lauren’s constituents informed her of their concerns regarding a route to school. At night, some areas are not illuminated and some young people found it intimidating to walk through them in the dark evenings. She has written to a local councillor to investigate the situation, in the hope that some action will be taken to install street lights. Sasha recently took up his duties as the new Member of the Youth Parliament for North East Scotland, representing Aberdeenshire’s young people at a UK level. On 23rd June, he attended a British Youth Council Convention in Glasgow, with fellow Scottish MYPs, to find out more about the relationship between various youth voice organisations across the country. After summer, Lauren plans to speak to constituents about the current project of the SYP Justice Committee. She’d like to ask young people for their thoughts on drugs education and how it can be improved. From left to right: Josh MacRae MSYP, Emma Holmes MSYP, Lauren McGill MSYP, Evie Robertson MSYP, Sasha Brydon MSYP, Dyana Cioffi MSYP. Page 7 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE YoYP Ambassadors 2018 The Mearns YoYP Ambassadors supported the Mearns Youth Forum with their “Mental Health and Wellbeing in Young People awareness evening” and Tihanna White delivered a fantastic presentation on what Year of the Young People 2018 is about and how it links with the MYF’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Campaign. They also collaborated with the Mearns Community Library to organise and deliver an Author event for Young people within Mearns. They looked over various author profiles and choose a female, Scottish writer, Claire McFall, to come along to Mearns Academy to deliver a book reading and take part in a Q & A session about creative writing and her published books. Jane Lawson was the master of ceremony for the event which was relaxed but very informative with young people actively taking part in the Q & A session. It was well attended by senior pupils from Mearns Academy who had the opportunity to meet with the Author after the event for more information about becoming a writer. Pupil Participation Forum The PPF have continued with a number of different projects. We have completed our Mental Wellbeing Survey which will be distributed to secondary schools in September. The results of this will inform the Wellbeing resource we produce. We have also begun early collaboration on awareness raising with Dementia Friendly Aberdeenshire. Our end of year event was at Lochter and for some of the PPF this was their last meeting as they prepared to move on to college, jobs or university. We will be recruiting new members at the start of the new school session to return the PPF to a full complement of four representatives per secondary school. Page 8 YOUTH VOICE MATTERS ABERDEENSHIRE Young People’s Participation & Campaigning Group (YPOC) We are the YPOC group and we are a group of Looked After Children or care experienced young people aged between 12 years and up. There are around 10 to 12 of us who meet monthly at Inverurie Family Centre and discuss what is important to us and how to make things better for Looked After Children across Aberdeenshire. This year we are working on a new campaign which is all about what it’s like coming into care and what could be better and also what people can do to help us when we have to move placements.