Supporting young ‘Rights Advocates’ to campaign on mental health
Over several years working with Youth Access as a consultant, then leading the influencing work as Policy and Campaigns Manager, I worked arm-in-arm with young people to understand their experiences of accessing mental health services and how the system needs to change to better meet their rights.
I built up a national network of young ‘Rights Advocates’, developing training to support them to understand their rights and build the skills to advocate for those locally and nationally through the youth-led ‘Our Minds Our Future’ programme.
Read more: Our Minds Our Future programme and blog about the campaign.
Testimony:
”Being a young person in the advocacy space was very daunting and overwhelming, but working with Kahra made the experience such a positive.
“Kahra was very friendly and welcoming from our first meeting, and she offered me so many opportunities – such as speaking at the Tory party conference – and mentored me through them. She had so much belief in me and provided constant encouragement – she helped me feel so much more confident in my own abilities and taught me how to use my voice/lived experience to advocate for change rather than being a ‘sob story’.
“Working with Kahra, I had a sense that we were equals, and a sense of mutuality – we were both fighting for the same cause and wanted the same thing and were working together to achieve the goal.
“Kahra is so passionate, articulate and an absolute joy to work with – she has given me so many skills for life and I now feel empowered to use my own voice and experiences for change.”
-Lizzie Mitchel, young ‘Rights Advocate’