On Our Mind
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides integrated healthcare services including intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire.
Our On Our Minds blog shares lived experiences from colleagues at the Trust and patients who use or have used our services on a variety of topics from a wide range of services.
How the Trust’s Youth Impact Board is shaping young people’s mental health services
For Children's Mental Health Week, we're sharing a blog by Ruqaiyah Ali, an Advocate on Nottinghamshire Healthcare's Youth Impact Board (YIB). Ruqaiyah shares the journey of how the YIB became a reality and how young people and health professionals are working together to shape health services and make a difference.
The Trust's YIB was launched in November 2025 as part of the Trust's drive for continuous improvement, particularly in children and young people's mental health services. The Board is the Trust's first youth-led panel, created to make sure young people's voices are at the heart of how it designs, delivers and improves services.
"The creation of the YIB is a moment defining Nottinghamshire Healthcare", says Ruqaiyah. "It's a commitment not only to service improvement but to the transformation of how we listen, how we learn and how we co-create care with the people experiencing it most directly. Over many years, young people across the county have spoken about wanting to feel heard, understood and truly involved. The YIB is a direct response to that need: considered, intentional and built on the belief that meaningful change happens when young people are not just consulted but genuinely empowered.
"From the very first conversations that launched this work, a strong message came through from young people:
"We don't want to be spoken for. We want to be part of the process from day one."
"This became the foundation of everything that followed. The Board brings together 16 to 25-year-olds with a wide range of life experiences, those who have used services themselves, those who have supported friends or siblings, those who've worked in healthcare roles and those who simply felt drawn to making a difference in their community. Each person comes with a story, a reason, and a hope for what can be improved. Together, those stories create a depth of insight that cannot be replicated by data sets or policy documents alone.
"The official launch on 3 November 2025 reflected exactly what the YIB stands for. The atmosphere in the room felt quietly powerful, not by virtue of speeches or presentations, but because of the sense of genuine partnership between young people and professionals. Many colleagues shared afterwards that being able to hear directly from young members helped them reconnect with why they came into healthcare in the first place. Everyone present in the room, staff, volunteers, charity partners, and young people, knew this was more than an event; it was the beginning of a shared journey.
"Since then, the YIB has started working with teams at the earliest stages of service design, particularly within Children, Young People and Families services. One of our recent projects was about improving the experience of involvement itself - exploring what meaningful opportunities should look like, what genuine peer support feels like, and how to welcome young people into roles that value their insight rather than treat it as a formality. In meetings, members shared what had helped them feel confident and what had made engagement difficult in the past, offering practical suggestions that challenged long-standing assumptions. These discussions were thoughtful, gradually highlighting small but meaningful ways to make involvement more accessible, respectful and genuinely purposeful. It is in these real, moments - where someone says, This could work better for us, and the team leans in to understand - that the Board's impact is already taking shape.
"The path to getting the YIB off the ground was neither swift nor easy. There were long meetings, plans that had to be revisited, and steps that demanded patience. But every single person involved-young people, staff, advocates, and leaders-kept coming back. Not because they had to but because they knew what was on the line: the possibility to change healthcare in a way that actually feels inclusive. That resilience says so much more about the value of YIB than any launch event or document could. It proved that the Trust is serious about youth involvement, and young people are ready and willing to play a meaningful role given an opportunity.
"The YIB is now fully formed and already offering opportunities to young people far beyond the Board itself. The members are gaining confidence, learning new skills, and accessing mentoring, training, and paid involvement roles. Several have already expressed interest in future careers in the NHS. For some, it has been a source of purpose during challenging times, while for others it is simply that experience of being listened to - truly being listened to- by professionals who respect their expertise.
"More broadly, the YIB is fostering a culture across the Trust where curiosity, compassion, and lived experience drive decision-making. By centering youth voice, we learn to stop, ask different questions, and approach service design with an increased sense of the difficulties young people face.
"We believe that every young person should have the opportunity to be heard. If you work with young people and would like to get in touch, please email us at involvement@nottshc.nhs.uk . We would love to hear what your young people say."
Further information - including resources and updates - is also available from Youth Impact Board web page.
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