Past Groups & Projects
Key Worker Project
The Keyworker Service is a national programme that provides support to young people with a learning disability and/ or autism who are either in an inpatient setting or at risk of being admitted due to their mental health.
The Chair of Steering Group for the North East and North Cumbria programme, Gayl Keddie, got in touch with Investing in Children in September 2022 to ask for support to involve children and young people in the steering group.
Interested young people met with Gayl in January 2023 to talk about how they would like to be involved.
Preventing Mental Health Admissions Project
The CCG commissioned Investing in Children to coordinate a piece of work focused on supporting young people who were known to be at risk of a mental health admission to hospital. A steering Group with wide representation from across the public and voluntary and community was brought together. Young people and families from United Voice were part of the working groups with their own dedicated sub group and an invitation to steering group meetings. The aim of the project was to review the journey of young people who were known to be on a trajectory to a mental health admission to hospital that it was felt could have been avoided if additional support was available. Initial discussions to inform the project began in February 2020 and Investing in Children had oversight of the project from October 2020 – March 2022.
Please view the report below.
Health Group
Investing in Children have had a long standing Health contract formerly with the Primary Care Trust (PCT), then the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) and more recently the Integrated Care Board (ICB). Within these contracts IiC has ran a Health Group which gave young people the opportunity to come together and discuss a wide range of health related topics to help inform the work of Health commissioners in County Durham. Examples of the health focussed discussions include a mix of hospital services and community support. Specific focussed work included accessing Urgent Care, mental health, sexual health, stroke, cancer, physiotherapy and occupational health. Within this project young people have facilitated a range of Agenda Day’s™, focus groups in addition to supporting GP Surgeries and other Health related services to achieve the Investing in Children Membership Award™.
Better Health Programme North Durham
Chester le Street Community Hospital
Darlington Memorial Hospital Review
Criminal Justice Agenda Day™
In February 2024, Investing in Children worked with Northumbria University’s Law School to explore young people’s experiences of reporting crime. A group of young people aged 14-16 ran their own Agenda Day™ – an adult-free discussion where they shared their views, identified what would help or hinder them from reporting crime, and made recommendations for change.
Their findings have been shared with researchers and will help shape how the criminal justice works with young people in the future
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