Source: Coram Voice Posted 19 April 2022
Details below of an opportunity some of the young people you are in contact with may be interested in. You can find out more by contacting Emma.hosking@cormavoice.org.uk .
Coram Voice is working alongside University College London and Sussex University in a research project about the mental health and wellbeing of care experienced young people.
What is this research about? Young people enter the care system for lots of different reasons, but many have had very difficult early experiences. Once in care, some might be adopted, some might return to their birth family, and some might stay in care and live with a relative, foster carer, or in a residential home. Whatever their path, the process of moving into, though, and out of care can also be very challenging. We know that young people who have experience of care can often struggle with their mental health and that this can make other things very difficult like friendships, trusting people, or school or employment. We also know that with the right support, care-experienced young people can thrive.
The goal of our research programme is the understand why some care-experienced young people might really struggle with their mental health, while others do well, or might be in between. To do this, we are going to look at two important periods of time: the move into secondary school (11-12) and the move into early adulthood (ages 17 and 18).
We will look at a whole range of processes that might influence mental health and wellbeing, including what happens in services, social support systems, and how the young person thinks and feels about themselves and the world. This will be the largest ever UK study on processes related to the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced young people and we want to use the information to develop better avenues of support so care-experienced young people can thrive.
Want to get involved? It is really important to us that we work closely with care-experienced young people and that we use this opportunity to listen to and amplify the voices of care-experienced young people at all stages of the research programme. We want to make sure our research is as helpful as it can be and also want to make sure that how we share information from our research is understandable and useful to care-experienced children, teenagers and adults, as well as to the people who might support them.
Through Coram Voice we are looking for care-experienced young people (including those still in care and care leavers aged 16-21) to join paid research advisory panel roles. These panels will meet approximately 3 times a year to provide feedback, discuss issues, and input into all stages of the research.
We are looking for: young people in care or leaving care aged 16-21 to join an advisory panel (I have attached a poster about the opportunity for young people)
If you are interested in finding out more about these roles please contact Emma.hosking@cormavoice.org.uk
Who is involved in the research? The research is run by Dr Rachel Hiller (University College London) and Dr Lisa Holmes (Sussex University) with Prof Julie Selwyn, Oxford; Prof Katherine Shelton, Cardiff; Prof John Macleod, Bristol; Prof Iram Siraj, Oxford.
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