What’s the project?
42nd Street is a children and young people’s mental health charity based in Manchester. At 42nd Street we have an online support service, where young people can access help digitally with a trained mental health practitioner, through a weekly live-chat session, or through sending messages, which a practitioner will respond to once a week. We are always looking to make sure that young people’s voices are heard as we develop this service.
We are currently helping some other charities to deliver online support using the same platform we do, Breathe. As part of this project, we are conducting peer-led research focused on understanding what young people’s perceptions of online support are, what we might want and need from it, and what our concerns around it might be.
The information we gather throughout the project will be used to produce a report on best practice for online mental health support services from the perspectives of young people, which will be shared within 42nd Street, to help influence the improvements we make to our service. It will also be shared with other voluntary, charitable, and social enterprise organisations throughout our networks, who are interested in young people’s opinions, and who might already have, or are interested in setting up, an online support service. The data in the report, and any internal feedback, will be anonymised, and all data will be stored and responded to in line with 42nd Street’s privacy and confidentiality and safeguarding policies.
Find out more
We are currently recruiting for the first stage of our research, which will take place as focus groups between 1st May and 1st August, to open the conversation about what support is out there for young people online, and how we feel about it. Focus groups will last 2 hours and will each involve 4-8 young people, though we will be hosting multiple groups to speak to as many young people as possible. There is the option to join an in-person group, at 42nd Street’s office on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester, to join an online group over video, or to join a text-based online group. The group will involve three discussion-based activities, with breaks in-between, alongside optional icebreaker questions. Information about the activities and icebreakers, and how to access the groups, will be sent out in advance.
For all groups:
- Must be based in the UK
- Aged 13-25
- Lived experience of mental illness or poor wellbeing (this is not dependent on diagnosis)
- An interest in improving mental health services for young people
Fo the in-person focus groups:
- Must live in Greater Manchester
For the online focus groups:
- Access to a smartphone or laptop (with webcam for video groups)
- Stable internet connection
- Headphones or a private space to attend the online group
Young people will receive a £20 Amazon voucher to compensate them for their time. For the in-person groups, snacks will be provided, and we are also able to assist with travel expenses if this is something which will impact their ability to access the groups. The groups will be co-facilitated by a trained mental health practitioner who will be available to privately message or to step aside for a chat if needed throughout the groups. Young people can opt-in to be updated about the changes we make as a result of the project and to see a copy of the final report, as well as opting in to hear about further opportunities to contribute to research and service development throughout the project.
If you would like to join a focus group, or have any questions, please email [email protected] and let us know that you’d like to take part. Please include where you heard about the project in this email. We will reply with some more information about the specific groups and steps on what to do next. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!
5pm on 7th June.
Please note that the McPin Foundation regularly promotes opportunities on behalf of other institutions; we are not responsible for the continuation or contents of further correspondence with any project partners where we are not listed as the project main point of contact.
