This year our residential was in a different location to the usual centre parks trip as we opted for a youth hostel based in Edale surrounded by the beautiful Peak District. The centre was lovely and had some great facilities meaning we could try the likes of Archery as well as going out for an afternoon abseiling of a 75ft railway bridge (I believe some of the young people are still recovering from the horror os this!) We were all able to get to know each other better over the weekend, with our friday night starting with some team games. I believe one of the reasons the weekend was such a success was because of the relationships built between us all, meaning we could develop skills and grow in confidence.
Whilst we weren't all relaxing by the campfire or sunbathing, we were actually working really hard, coming up with some ideas for the next couple of months. One of our first challenges was themed around the program 'Dragons Den' with Donna and Mark being the Dragons (they were very intimidating I must admit). Our job as young people was to come up with a product that could be used by Young People in hospital. We were split into 2 teams: Girls vs Boys.
Straight away, both teams got to work. The girls quickly developed the idea of a 'Welcome Box' for young people for when they are admitted into hospital. Using a range of first hand experiences, we came up with a list of items we believe are important to a young person. Toiletries are a must so we decided on miniature bottles of: a 2 in 1 shampoo/conditoner, body wash, a tooth brush and tooth paste, dry shampoo, facial wipes, deodorant, hand cream and a few other bits and bobs. We also thought it'd be great to provide a young person with some information about the fabulous NUH Youth Service, which is why we included a leaflet aswell as a voucher for a free drink on their first visit to the youth room. We all agreed that being in hospital can be a very difficult time for a teenager emotionally, which is why we thought its be great to include a positive quote to brighten their day. The box itself was going to be plain so the person would be able to personalise it with a range of pens that would be included, adding that personal touch! Art therapy is becoming increasingly popular, with many shops now selling colouring books for adults, which is why we wanted to include a book with a range of colourings to do, as well as crosswords and games. We really enjoyed coming up with our idea and I'm sure you'll all agree that it would be beneficial to young people to make their hospital stay a little easier. Our next step as a youth forum will be to present this to someone more senior to see if we can develop our idea and turn it from paper to the actual product.
The boys on the other hand went down a slightly different route. When in hospital, not all patients are physically well enough to attend the hospital school which is why they wanted to bring it to the bedside, using their portable study station. The idea is that it is a compact work station that folds into a handy box, that has a tablet in it as well as many compartments for storing pens and paper. We all thought that the concept was great as it would allow young people to do their work to stop them falling behind at school, whilst also enabling them to stay in contact with their peers. We understand this would be a more expensive project however it is something we can look into in the future!
On Sunday we had a slightly different challenge: to plan takeover day 2015. This event will be held across the country on Friday 20th November 2015 and it gives young people the opportunity to work with adults for the day and be involved with the decision making in some big organisations. This year, the Youth Forum will be working with Nottingham Children's Hospital as part of takeover day. Some members have expressed an interest about finding out more about how the Youth Service runs, whilst others wanting to shadow a consultant for the day. Duties may include answering the phone, attending meetings and much more! There will be many different opportunities for the youth forum to get involved in what should be a fantastic day. It will hopefully give us young people an insight into the day to day runnings of the Hospital and may even inspire some to pursue a career in the NHS.
I hope you have enjoyed hearing about what the Youth Forum have got up to over the weekend and we are all so excited for the upcoming months so keep checking for updates from us!
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