Listening Project report launch event

The Listening Project:

On Wednesday 19 February, Partnership for Young London and Transformation Partners in Health and Care NHS held a launch event to of the Listening Project report. 

In 2022 to 2023 , the Children and Young People’s Mental Health team at Transformation Partners in Health and Care worked with Black Thrive Lambeth; Hammersmith, Fulham, Ealing, and Hounslow Mind; Partnership for Young London; Taraki; and Thrive LDN  to listen to 114 young Londoners (aged 12 to 25) from Asian, Black, and Latin American backgrounds. They wanted to understand their views on mental health and the services available to them. Over half of those who took part were aged 18 to 25 and 60% of the sample identified as male.

The project looked at:

• Why young people from racially minoritised communities are less likely to use community mental health services.

• Their experiences with mental health support.

• Their beliefs and attitudes towards mental health.

• How they face health inequalities in London.

The findings showed that race and identity play a big role in shaping young people’s experiences with mental health and the support they receive. The report highlights their voices and includes good examples of how services can better support young people’s wellbeing.

The insights from this project can help improve mental health services and reduce health inequalities.

The event:

The youth-centred event was hosted at Soapbox Islington to hold discussions around the key findings from the report as well as reflections on the key recommendations.

There were around 51 people in attendance of which:

• 31 were young people between the ages of 15-25.

• 59% identified as female, 39% identified as male and 2% identified as non-binary.

• 94% of the attendees came from Global majority backgrounds

As the research was completed 2 years ago, the first activity looked at mapping out what had changed in the last two years for young people that impacted their mental health. Responses included the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, longer waiting times for services, as well as more positive changes, such as more engagement with global majority communities and more dialogue around mental health in schools and community settings.

Other activities looked at deep dives into recommendations as well as stakeholder mapping to outline where there was more work needed to be done when it came to better mental health of young Londoners from global majority backgrounds.

Next steps:

From April 2025, there will be more work done around the report such as working with organisations to support them to understand the findings and take action.