The Mix needs YOU: What should The Mix be talking about?

Former Member

Hey Everyone!

Some of you will know me and others probably won’t – my names Harry and I’m a member of the Youth Voice Panel at The Mix. It’s our job to help the charity to make sure that young people are at the heart of everything that it does. It’s quite a big job to do ourselves, and so we need your help!

The Mix are setting out on an exciting process called annual planning, which helps to set priorities for the organisation in the upcoming year. I’ve included some more information about the process below (as a spoiler to keep this post at a reasonable length.)

What is annual planning?

Annual planning is a process that The Mix goes through every year to determine what the organisations priorities will be going forward. As part of the process, The Mix’s Youth Voice Panel are leading some consultation work with the young people. We will then present your views back to the staff team at The Mix so that YOU can have a say in what the charity focuses on in the upcoming year. For example, if you tell us that young people are concerned about how to manage their money, we will feed this back to the staff team who will then look at ways in which The Mix could help address this concern.

Your voices are a really important part of this process – we can’t know what you want if we don’t ask! I’m going to be asking a few questions over the next few weeks and would love to hear what you’ve got to say. To start of with, I’d love to know ‘What do you think The Mix should be talking about?’ What issues do you feel particularly passionate about? What things worry you, and your friends, most? 

Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll be sure to feed what YOU think The Mix should be talking about into the annual planning process. I can’t wait to hear what you all think! Feel free to comment with any questions you've got, or drop @Italia or @The Mix a message if you'd rather ask privately!

Former Member

self harm, we need to break the taboo surrounding this topic, I saw on twitter that the mix said 1 in 3 young people have said they self harm, where the nhs said it was only 1 in 10 (think that's what it said) those numbers stuck with me cause I have 576 friends on fb, im the only one that I see posting about self harm, I know a few people on my friends list who self harm, and they have a lot to say on the matter, but theyre too ashamed to put it on fb, we need to normalize talking about this.

I also think that individual illnesses that are most stigmatized (BPD, PTSD ECT.) we need to talk about them more as well and break the sterotypes that surround them. I know whenever I say I have bpd everyone ALWAYS mentions girl, interrupted. like NO I am not like that, there are so many combinations of symptoms that come with bpd, some people have all of them, some only a few.

Former Member

Mental health in males I think is a real one to work with at the moment. I see a lot on twitter about it but I still think there's such a large stigma around males having mental health issues.

Dancer

I am passionate about rights for people with disabilities and I believe that this topic needs to have more awareness. Disabilities can be visible as well as invisible. Someone can have dyslexia or dyscalculia. You can't see that someone suffers from these but they are still disabilities. You can see cerebral palsy, amputations and down syndrome. These are disabilities. I believe that everyone should have equal rights whether or not they have disabilities. 

Former Member

I think there should be more articles around hopefulness - for example, people who feel they are well on their way to recovery or things that prove a mental illness if not the be all and end all focus of on'es life. There are plenty of statistics around how mental health in society is declining but no one talk about the other side of recovery and the fact that there is hope for the future!  

Former Member

Thanks so much for you feedback everyone - so much good stuff here for us to work with! I've pulled out some of the key issues that I'll feedback on below, please let me know if you think I've missed anything - it's really important we hear you right.

We need to normalize talking

@Past User - this is definitely something I can get onboard with! I think the dream is that mental and physical struggles are seen as just as serious as each other, right? The stigma definitely needs breaking and conversation normalizing.

Mental health in males I think is a real one to work with at the moment

This might be bias from me, but men

@GreenTea @Aidan - a really interesting point you've both raised and you're both so right! Like you've pointed out Aidan, the stats for men aren't great and GreenTea as you rightly say, men often have this idea that they have to be strong and masculine that can be really damaging. Looking at how we can get men talking could be a really cool project. 

Rights for people with disabilities.
Disabilities can be visible as well as invisible.

@Kasa2103 - another really great idea! Funnily enough I was on a disability awareness training course at the weekend, and I think that really opened my eyes to how little I knew. Educating people on the importance of creating inclusive spaces for young people with disabilities is so important going forwards.

more articles around hopefulness

Happy first boards post @MountainPeak it's really great to have you here! That's a really interesting take on it and not something I'd thought of before. I can see the huge benefit of sharing positive stories to ensure were projecting an image of hope to our users. 

Thank you for such such amazing insights everyone! If you want another piece of the action, check out my second question and let's keep chatting! 

Stay awesome!

H

Siena

Am i too late to comment? 

I think you should speak more about how your diet affects your mental health. You have articles about a balanced diet and fitness and diet. But none of them link to mental health and its really important i think. Many people have a lot of sugar and It makes you so tired. I normally count calories not caring about how much sugar i have. But decreasing sugar and i think I'm feeling less tired already

Former Member

Shaunie said:

Am i too late to comment? 

Definitely not @Shaunie. You've raised an important point that I'd agree doesn't get much attention as things stand at the moment. Will definitely take this into annual planning - thank you!

Aidan said:

For sure. Mental health and physical health are linked and diet is a part of that.

Great to hear you echo Shaunie's thoughts @Aidan . Sounds as though we've identified a gap in the resources that are out there at the moment!

Italia

Heya!

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in this conversation. It formed a really vital part of the Youth Voice Panels recommendations. 

We were keen to share with you a bit more about the process and what was presented to The Mix staff team last week. 

Head over to this thread and read my update at the bottom. Any questions, or thoughts just let us know.

Thanks again, it makes a huge difference!

Former Member

Hey! I'm not sure if I'm too late, and I haven't really read any comments, but I think the mix needs a section for kids who are in or have been in care (any kind of care!). 

I used to use childline before I aged out and they had a full section for it which helped me through a lot. 

I know there's a family and relationships section but it's not as specific and I think it's a major thing that needs it's its own section. 

Thanks!

Former Member

Anch0r33 said:

Hey! I'm not sure if I'm too late, and I haven't really read any comments, but I think the mix needs a section for kids who are in or have been in care (any kind of care!). 

I used to use childline before I aged out and they had a full section for it which helped me through a lot. 

I know there's a family and relationships section but it's not as specific and I think it's a major thing that needs it's its own section. 

Thanks!

Hey @Anch0r33

Thanks so much for commenting and sorry I've been a bit slow to get back to you - been a bit of a crazy week. In short, it's never too late! We're always looking to hear about any gaps or anything that you'd like The Mix to talk about! 

We've already fed back on this particular piece of work for annual planning, but I'll make sure your particular feedback is fed in aswell as those conversations are still very much live! You can always post up on the 'Fix the Mix' forum (linked) if you have any further ideas or suggestions for us, and these threads will always be here and open too!

Thanks for taking the time to come back to us - we really appreciate it. Stay safe and chat soon!