Our Minds Our Future

The Our Minds Our Future project was a UK-wide project involving young people in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The project in Scotland was led by the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) and SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health).

Our Minds Our Future aimed to put the voices of young people at the centre of mental health service design and delivery. It brought young people, mental health professionals, and policy makers together to ensure young people are meaningfully involved in the design and development of community based mental health services for young people.

In Scotland, MSYPs and other young people worked with SYP and SAMH (Scottish Association of Mental Health) to develop a report outlining eight recommendations they believe are essential for the development and delivery of community based mental health services for young people in Scotland:

1. Young people should be meaningfully involved in all stages of decision making around the design and delivery of young people’s community based mental health services.
2. Community based mental health services should be age appropriate, and should be available to all young people up to the age of 25.
3. Young people, and those who work with them, should be better educated about mental health, which will help to reduce stigma.
4. Signposting should be more frequent, child or young person-centred, and available in a range of formats.
5. Young people across Scotland should receive a consistent level of service, regardless of where they live, work, or study.
6. Young people should be able to access support for their mental health and wellbeing, regardless of their personal situation.
7. Support should be available in a range of formats and should be focused on prevention and early intervention.
8. Young people should be able to access mental health support when they need it.

Through 2022, members of the group developed a how to guide for practitioners and service providers to help them engage young people in mental health service design and delivery. The guide is available here.