The third youth panel meeting of 2023 took place on 11^th May in glorious sunshine.

We always start each youth panel meeting with a game. This time, the six young people, aged 14-25, took part in a nature treasure hunt (because nature helps reduce stress and anxiety). They challenged themselves to find five natural objects to represents the 5 elements: air, water, fire, earth and space. They had 15 minutes to collect their natural treasure in our garden before explaining to everyone else why they collected each object. The panellists were so creative! A pinecone represented fire – did you know that many pines require fire to germinate? A dandelion flower represented air – and then to prove it the Drop-in Centre became covered in downy seeds!

We really valued the youth panel’s input into the survey we’ll run for a week from 20^th May, asking young person’s experience of services available at Youth Concern. Next time, we can’t wait to welcome Charmaine of Khepera who will talk to the panel about the power of food, and at September’s meeting, at their request, the panellists will receive 3 hours’ first aid training. We’ll culminate the year with a social and thank you party at Wycombe Leisure Centre, courtesy of Places Leisure.

We’ll be inviting new 13-24 year olds to join the youth panel in the autumn. Who knows where next year’s calendar will take us?