Somerset Member of Youth Parliament Ellie Bealing met with staff from Public Health as part of her campaign – Young People Strong, Healthy Lives. The meeting has resulted in the opportunity for Ellie to do more work with Public Health. Read Ellie’s update below:
On Friday 30 August, I was lucky enough to meet with some of the staff from Public Health, in order to inform them about my campaign and to learn more about the work they are doing with young people in Somerset.
I was introduced to Nicola Crocker, Jo Leek and Rebecca Jones who have the role of improving the wellbeing of those in our county through a variety of initiatives and platforms. It was refreshing to be able to explain the motivations behind my campaign and the ultimate objectives and be met with understanding and praise. It is brilliant that youth voice has found support from these lovely individuals!
Fortunately, I discovered that there are plenty of avenues for Youth Parliament and Public Health to link up, with the team being more than happy to involve me in their current projects. The “Help My Friend has Asked Me” campaign has been recently explored by our Youth Forum group and aims to work out who young people turn to when they are in need of support, as well as some of the top concerns at our age group.
More closely linked to my campaign, Public Health have offered me the opportunity to submit some relevant writing to be used on their website, along with sharing any potential resources that I produce from my research. I was also linked with a nutritionist to further my personal understanding of food and its benefits, so I look forward to being able to have a meeting to dispel any potential myths, and to better equip myself with the knowledge to hopefully lead classroom conversations in our secondary schools. Public Health helps oversee the PSHE (Personal, social, health and economic) curriculum, and this sounds like a prime opportunity to review the depth in which we are informed about food and the risks of a poor relationship with our body and diet.
I want to thank Public Health and Joanne Leek especially for facilitating our meeting, and I am incredibly excited to begin to delve into the partnership it has opened up for my campaign.
Ellie
Somerset Youth Parliament campaigns
Each Member of Youth Parliament works on a campaign during their term, which is supported by their Deputies and the Advisory Group. It allows us to understand what changes young people want to see in the communities they live in and makes sure that those views are heard by Somerset’s decision makers.
To find out more about our Member of Youth Parliament’s campaigns visit our Campaigns page.
