This space is part of the Mindset Revolution. Youth Mental Health beyond Borders superspace.

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A participatory process is a sequence of participatory activities (e.g. first filling out a survey, then making proposals, discussing them in face-to-face or virtual meetings, and finally prioritizing them) with the aim of defining and making a decision on a specific topic.

Examples of participatory processes are: a process of electing committee members (where candidatures are first presented, then debated and finally a candidacy is chosen), participatory budgets (where proposals are made, valued economically and voted on with the money available), a strategic planning process, the collaborative drafting of a regulation or norm, the design of an urban space or the production of a public policy plan.

Process phases

Identifying problems relating to mental health (lack of) support that young people experience

  • Prepare Web page

  • Start gathering blogs/ vlogs and other resources (young people-led research) from all MR young people and other youth groups working with our partners

  • Prepare and run survey of 16-25 young people in GM to identify main problems that young people experience and want to talk about

  • Meeting with other MR groups to identify most mentioned problems

Exploring innovative youth-led solutions

  • Invite proposals to address identified problems from across youth groups working on youth mental health including MR young people

  • Meeting of MR groups to merge similar proposals

  • Initial survey respondents invited to rank their favourite 3 proposals through voting process

  • 1 or 2 youth-led online debates with all MR groups/ partners and everyone that submitted proposals to finalise/ refine the most voted 3 proposals to be discussed with public officials/ services


Debating with policymakers and services how to implement young people’s ideas

  • Meeting across all MR groups/ partners to agree which public officials/ services to invite and how to reach them

  • Organise youth-led dialogue with public officials/ services (in person/ online)

  • Final plan of action of changes agreed (feasible and pragmatic but also pushing the boundaries a bit - we want to start a revolution!). This final plan/ manifesto will also include: what emerges from the new Legislative Theatre play; findings from the research group; actions from other groups working with our partners - e.g. Bee Heard group; Living Well researchers.

The flipped consultation

  • Youth-led consultation to put our plan of action to policymakers/ services across different sectors that can contribute to make the changes young people need: youth mental health linked not just to health services, but also to housing, education, employment, addressing intersectional discrimination in society

To make sure what agreed really happens. Accountability throughout the project

  • Firstly on what already agreed from last project

  • Secondly on what agreed through this new cycle

  • We hope this is only the beginning and that this can become an ongoing process of youth-led collective action and flipped consultation


Mindset Revolution: The Process

Strengthening Youth Voice on Youth Mental Health

About this process

Mindset Revolution is about young people creating their own spaces of participation, where they can build a collective voice that can be heard loud and clear by mental health services and policymakers.

We are a group of young people who are empowering youth voice to better mental health services and policies for 16-25-year olds. We are combining arts-based methods like Legislative Theatre* and a digital participation process to test a new approach to youth participation. Young people are evaluating the whole project to see how it all works!

Watch this space and help us shake things up!

In Legislative Theatre a group of people act out their own experience of structural oppressions and discrimination. Working with an audience of "spect-actors" and policymakers they challenge existing rules and create new policies that respond better to their needs.

Pictures from our last project "We are the one we've been waiting for".

What is decided

How to improve awareness and support of young people's mental health needs

Who participates

16-25 year olds across Greater Manchester ina youth-led dialogue with mental health services and public officials in the GMCA

How is it decided

We will: 1) ask young people (16-25) what are themain problems with youth mental health support that they want to talk about; 2) invite proposals from young people and groups working on youth mental health to tackle these problems; 3) have a dialogue with young people and public offcials to refine these proposals; 4) have a flipped consultation where we present our plan for change to services and institutions in Greater Manchester

Organization Area

Greater Manchester, UK

Reference: OS-PART-2023-02-133