Jeevan, a Young Healthwatch volunteer writes about his attendance at the Voice of the Children Conference, facilitated by Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton Safeguarding Children Partnerships.

Feature imageAttending the Voice of the Child Conference was an enjoyable and eye-opening experience; evidently, focusing on providing children the courage to speak up and stand up to bullying and unhealthy relationships. As someone interested in pursuing a career in Paediatrics, gaining an insight in how children’s services want to empower and allow young people to have a voice in how they’re supported, gave me exposure to a vast array of paediatric services and support programmes.

The conference consisted of students, from many different schools, and different ages. Facilitators sat with the pupils and discussed the various topics presented, and many staff members representing various children’s services, including NSPCC and CAMHS.

The primary topics discussed were regarding bullying and, how to differentiate and identify, healthy and unhealthy relationships. I was able to work with one of the facilitators who managed Bedford and Luton & Dunstable Hospital paediatric services. We assisted with various activities from categorising if a scenario belonged to a healthy or unhealthy relationship, to questions like, ‘what would you if you saw someone was bullied’?

Students wrote down and verbally gave their feedback regarding the topics; furthermore, all the various stations of: NSPCC, CAMHS, Young Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire and the Police, gave a wealth of information on the support that young people can access.

Overall, the conference was successful in providing young people a voice that they knew would be heard. Also, the conference empowered all the students to understand that their opinion matters and there would be action based on their discussions and ideas.