We are proud to announce that on April 15 Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, welcomed researchers, young people and external partners from key related organisations to our Inaugural Youth Partnerships in Research mini conference.
The conference consisted of a full day of workshops, panels and table top presentations facilitated and led by our national Youth Advisory Council and Youth Research Council in partnership with researchers exploring the theme of engaging young people in research practices.
Along with talks from Associate Professor Helen Cahill (Youth Research Centre, The University of Melbourne) and Professor Barbara Dooley (Headstrong, Ireland), we heard from a range of young people and researchers about their experiences of partnering together when undertaking youth mental health research.
We were also really excited to launch a new toolkit aimed at supporting youth partnerships. The toolkit had three parts, including principles of youth partnerships, different ways in which young people can be involved as partners in research and a practical checklist to use when starting up a new partnership. It was developed in partnership with members of the Youth Advisory and Youth Research Council to support people’s understanding of youth participation principles and practical ways to partner with young people in research.
To top the day off, Youth Advisory Council member Maddi took the opportunity to ask both young people and researchers ‘Why it is important to engage young people in research?
Listen to the vox pops here
Download Youth Partnerships Toolkit