Youth Voice

Sefton Young Advisors are a group of young people aged 15-22 (up to 25 with SEND) who work with community leaders and decision makers to ensure the voices of young people are heard in community life. Young Advisors are employed by Sefton CVS and are paid and trained professionals.

Young Advisors bring expertise of being young into their community and can provide services such as: youth proofing, training for adults and young people, video creation and report writing. Sefton Young Advisors can be commissioned to do consultation with young people for organisations.

They plan and facilitate Have Your Say Sefton (an opportunity for young people across Sefton to share theirs views with Senior Leaders and Elected Members on different topics).

They have strong links with the local and wider community and have previously worked with: the NHS, The Violence Reduction Partnership, The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and more.

Contact: Georgia.ribbens@seftoncvs.org.uk

The Sefton Youth Voice Strategic Steering Group was set up in 2022 and reports into the Children and Young Peoples Partnership Board.

The group is chaired by Sharon Cotterall, Strategic Lead for Children and Families at Sefton CVS and has membership including the Local Authority, Education, Health, Police and the Voluntary Sector.

Purpose

• The Voice of children and young people is heard and influences service development.
• Oversight and co-ordination of consultation and feedback.
• Development and sharing of good practice.
• Maintain a library of consultation.
• Production of a newsletter.
• Increase awareness of existing consultation mechanisms.

Contact: sharon.cotterall@seftoncvs.org.uk

The Youth Voice and Participation Toolkit is a document aimed at professionals that work with or engage with children and young people.

The toolkit was originally created in 2015 and updated as an action from the Sefton Youth Voice Strategic Steering Group in 2022.

It helps to guide professionals to understand the importance of meaningful engagement with children and young people and gives ideas on engagement techniques.

Contact: young.advisors@seftoncvs.org.uk

Have Your Say Sefton (previously SYMBOL) is an opportunity for young people in Sefton to share their views with Senior Leaders and Elected Members in Sefton on topics that are important to them.

Young people decide on the topic that we focus on and the topic is then facilitated by Sefton Young Advisors who visit schools, youth organisations and put together surveys to reach a wide variety of young people in Sefton.

Once Young Advisors have spoken to young people, the information gathered is put into a presentation to be delivered to Senior Leaders and Elected Members at a Have Your Say Sefton meeting. There are two topics covered each year.