The Right Here initiative is a 5-year, £6 million program to improve mental health support for 16-25 year olds in the UK. It includes 4 partnership projects led by youth charities in different areas. The projects provide mental health-focused youth activities and interventions to increase well-being, resilience, and mental health awareness. Evaluations found the participatory model improved social well-being and resilience. Effective elements included positive social interactions, voluntary participation, youth involvement, learning new skills, and partnerships with mental health experts. The initiative aims to disseminate lessons learned to influence youth mental health services and policy nationally.

1. RIGHT HERE
The role of youth work in supporting
young people’s mental health

2. RIGHT HERE
• Introduction to Right Here
• The projects: activities; interventions;
methods
• What works? Youth work with a mental
health twist
• Right Here Sheffield Case Study – Emma
Hinchcliffe, STAMP, and RH Youth Champion

3. RIGHT HERE: BACKGROUND
• 5 year, £6 million programme to change how we look after
the mental health and wellbeing of 16 – 25 year olds
• initiated and jointly managed by Paul Hamlyn Foundation
and the Mental Health Foundation with young people
involved from the start
• four partnership projects in Brighton, Fermanagh, Newham
and Sheffield, led by youth charities
• Innovation Labs initiative with Comic Relief and Nominet
Trust to develop new digital tools to support young people’s
mental health. £600k fund with new projects launched early
in 2013.

4. RIGHT HERE: BACKGROUND
WHY?
• One in six young adults aged 16 – 24 has a common
mental health disorder
• BUT young people lack access to age-
appropriate, accessible and acceptable health/mental
health services
• Young people experiencing emotional distress, or poor
mental health want help early on, from people they
trust, in non-mental health settings, AND they want a
say in the design and delivery of the services intended
to meet their needs, to ensure they are right for them.

5. RIGHT HERE: BACKGROUND
HOW?
• Action research approach: proving and improving
• Funding and providing non-monetary support to the
partnerships around organisational development, influencing
and evaluation. National youth champions network takes key
findings to national audience.
• Findings and effective approaches shared with wider
constituency – one of our aims being wider take up of the
successful RH approaches.

6. Right Here: The Projects
• Run in four very different areas, each with a specific
set of problems.
• Common features: high levels of unemployment and
lack of suitable or accessible services for young people.
• ‘There’s just nothing about mental well-being for this
age group in the area.’ (Project staff: Sheffield).
• Providing targeted support to young people at risk of
developing mh problems – different target groups in
each area – and general awareness raising activities to
improve knowledge and understanding of mental
health.

7. RIGHT HERE: project activities
• Aim: To improve young people’s well-
being, resilience, knowledge and awareness of mental
health, and tackle stigma.
• Third year of delivery; one more to go. Focus in final year on
embedding effective practices and influencing local
commissioning and services.
• One-off and multi-session activities designed and delivered
or commissioned by youth workers and young people with
input from mental health professionals, such as mh training
to delivery staff and volunteers or direct
counselling/therapeutic support to beneficiaries
• Effective youth work practice, grounded in strong mental
health rationale

8. RIGHT HERE: types of activities
Recreational: arts, sport and other leisure activities – things that
young people tend to enjoy and might do in their spare time. May
involve the learning of a new skill or development of an existing one.
Therapeutic activities more directly addressing young people’s
problems, formally through one-to-one or group counselling or
informally through support sessions provided by project staff.
Awareness-raising activities to increase young people’s understanding
of mental health and well-being, either generally or to give them a
better understanding of their own mental health. Can take the form of
information-giving or through training.
Participatory activities, facilitating young people’s involvement in
designing, delivering and evaluating the projects’ activities

9. RIGHT HERE: impacts on young people
• Latest evaluation findings show:
• Substantial increase in well-being of service
users, particularly in social well-being.
Participatory focus of projects is a key factor
• Positive impact on young people’s resilience
• 76% young people surveyed know more
about mental health and 75% had a greater
understanding of how mental health
difficulties affect people’s lives

10. RIGHT HERE: Brighton and Hove
• RH Brighton and Hove
delivery partners Sussex Central YMCA & Mind
• specialist advice from Boingboing –resilient therapy
network and regular mh training to staff and volunteers
• wide-ranging programme of one-off and multi-session
arts, sport and leisure activities including Music Production
course, Grafitti Art, water sports, rock-climbing, and
comedy workshops
• plus, awareness raising activities, e.g. ‘Where to go for
website’, campaigns to improve GP services, and
counselling, such as Anger Management (Keep Calm and
Carry on) and new ‘Fast Track’ Counselling Service

11. RIGHT HERE: Brighton and Hove
Positive outcomes
• How young people feel about themselves
• “I felt quite disadvantaged. I enjoy singing but had never done it in front of anyone
before because I was so shy. But I’ve grown so much as a person because of their
support. It’s boosted my confidence’ (YP, Music Production).
• What young people do and their social interactions
• “One of the most important things for me was coming together in a group –
sharing with others…Saying how I was feeling and that someone else cared about
the answer” (YP, Keep Calm and Carry on)
• Improved understanding and learning about mental health
• “The knowledge that everyone gets angry. It’s ok to be angry. It’s how you
manage it.” (YP, KCCO)
• New skills
• “I’ve really thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone wants it to continue. I’ve learnt so
many new skills. It’s better than I thought it would be.’ (YP, Music Production)

12. Right Here: what works? Effective
youth work with a mental health twist
• Positive social interaction supports mental health. Staff who ‘get’
young people, enjoy working with them, and can challenge and be
challenged are vital to success of RH projects. Staff are able to
encourage relationships within groups and provide intensive one
to one support as necessary. Relationships between young people
formed through RH are making young people feel better about
themselves
• Voluntary participation/choice leads to a sense of agency. YP can
come and go as they please. It’s their choice; they’re not obliged to
attend. This means that young people attend because they really
want to and puts the onus on them to take responsibility. The
onus is on workers to develop programmes that attract yp, or go
to the settings where they are

13. Right Here: what works?
• Youth involvement leading to improved
confidence and self-esteem. RH model of co-
production – yp and adults working and learning
together – provides yp with autonomy in deciding
what should be done and support needed to
carry out specific tasks beyond their expertise.
There has to be challenge too.
• Experimentation and reflection enhances yp’s
and workers personal motivation and learning
and can ensure activities meet changing needs of
project and the young people involved.

14. Right Here: what works?
Having fun and learning new skills/trying new
things makes young people feel good about
themselves and gives them sense of purpose.
It’s much easier to recruit young people to
recreational activities like rock-climbing, or
boxing, than those with explicit mental health
focus.
Mental health by stealth

15. Right Here: the mental health twist
• Ongoing relationships/partnerships with specialist
mental health organisations, such as Mind (Brighton and
Hove), Harmony Family Centre (Newham), Action Mental
Health (Fermanagh), clinicians (all, Sheffield’s staff team
includes)
• Specialists provide mh training to staff, volunteers and
external delivery organisations, one to one or group
counselling to yp, clinical supervision, and the mental
health framework
• Occasional referrals to other in-house counselling
services (Sheffield and Brighton)

16. Right Here Sheffield: Emma Hinchcliffe
• Staff and young people working together for
better mental health

17. Right Here: what’s on the horizon?
• Projects influencing how services are
commissioned – youth involvement – and what’s
commissioned: CCGs and Health and Well Being
Boards key targets
• National dissemination of key evaluation findings
via events, publications, existing networks such as
Children and Young People’s Mental Health
Coalition, to inform national policy and practice
• Major national showcase event 4 February 2013
• New digital projects to support yp’s mental health
come on stream in January 2013.

18. Right Here
How can we work together to make sure
voluntary and statutory young people’s services
build on what RH has learned and achieved?
www.right-here.org.uk