My Voice Matters in Research 

My voice matters in research aims to identify and overcome the barriers that prevent young people taking part in research. This will help to inform the design of future mental health services.

We will be working with multiple organisations and Made by Mortals to hold workshops throughout 2025. At these workshops we will work with young people on recommendations to improve their engagement in research.

You can read a summary of our events so far below.

This event was held at Manchester Whitworth Art Gallery. It brought together young people, researchers, and professionals to explore how to make mental health research more inclusive and accessible.

It was led by a young public advisor and the public engagement research assistant for the project. It was a collaboration between the Young People’s Mental Health Research Centre at Pennine Care, Manchester Centre for Youth Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester.

The event provided a space for young people, parents, mental health professionals, and researchers to share ideas and experiences, helping shape future training and engagement strategies. Discussions and creative activities focused on three key themes:

  • What makes it difficult for young people from different backgrounds to take part in mental health research?
  • How should mental health research training be designed to be inclusive and accessible?
  • What would help young people and researchers collaborate more effectively?

Throughout the event, More Than Minutes captured key insights through artistic visual minutes, illustrating the discussions and ideas that were shared. You can view one of their illustrations below:

My voice matters research event visual minutes.jpg

On Thursday 8 February 2024, two young people led an event with research teams from Pennine Care; Manchester Metropolitan University, Made by Mortals, 42nd Street, Mindset Revolution and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM), to plan better ways to engage young people in mental health research.

The event captured feedback on three key questions:

  • What would put off young people attending events to talk about mental health research? 
  • What should future events about young people's mental health research look like? 
  • What should researchers do differently to engage young people in conversations about research?

This feedback has been illustrated by artist Tom Bailey. Read more about the event and see the feedback.

Animations to answer the question 'what would put young people off mental health research'.png