Sefton Council have released a survey aimed at giving a voice to the children and young people in the area.
The survey, which is available until the 22nd March, is aiming to gather as much feedback as possible to make sure that the outcome reflects the needs of the community and focuses on the things that will improve the lives of local youth.
Cllr Mhairi Doyle, Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care said:
“Making sure we are focusing on the priorities of children and young people in our plans for the future is crucial; we want to truly hear what children in Sefton are telling us along with their parents, carers, families and the people who work with them.
“We want Sefton to be the best place to be a child, where all children can achieve their goals and think big with their dreams so I urge everyone to get involve and help us make Sefton the best place to grow up.”
According to ‘The Children Society’ In the last few years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%. Their ‘Good Childhood Report 2022’ shows that children’s happiness continues to decline. Now, five children in a classroom of 30 are likely to have a mental health problem.
These statistics are part of the reason Sefton Council are seeking to hear the voices of the communities young people, to find ways to improve their childhoods.
The survey is part of a wider, 5-year ‘Children and young people’s plan’ that Sefton Council began in 2020.
‘My Sefton: heard, happy, healthy, achieving’, is a plan created for all children, young people and their families that has set out how to maximize the health and wellbeing of all children and young people living in the area.
Sefton Council, NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Southport and Formby CCG, have agreed a series of priorities for future services and support.
The priorities are themed: are the children…
-Happy
-Heard
-Healthy
-Achieving
-Safe
These priorities are based on what children, young people, their families and Carers have told them about past experiences and what they already know about current care for young people in the area.
Sefton Council said: “Our ambition is to improve outcomes for all children as we want to break the link between a person’s background and where they get to in life. We will be child focused. Children and young people are our primary concern, we will listen and respond to children and young people and we will focus on strengths and building resilience. We will support our children, young people and their families to lead healthy lifestyles and have good emotional wellbeing and mental health.”
Once information from the survey is complete, the council will implement the data gathered to improve young people’s lives.
Some of the planned action includes promoting healthy eating by delivery of the North Mersey Prevention Programme, a review of mental health services, seeking to reduce hospital admissions for children and young people around alcohol with the continued use of campaigns such as Responsible Drinking and Challenge 25.
They also plan to develop locality profiles in order to understand what the current risks are to young people, including what young people know about healthy relationships and issues relating to consent.
