Who are the My Rights, My Say Young Advisors?

Innes Burns, Participation and Communications Officer for My Rights My Say, introduces our latest youth advisory group

All children have the right to have their views considered when decisions are being made about the support they get when they are learning.

Children aged 12-15 in Scotland now have the right to be more involved in the decisions that affect them. My Rights, My Say (MRMS) helps children exercise this right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

In the spirit of championing the voices, views and experiences of children, it makes sense for the service to be guided by them too. That’s where our MRMS Young Advisors come in.

The Young Advisors are a collective of tenacious and passionate young people who help shape how rights are understood and respected in Scotland. They share their experiences, give honest feedback to our staff and work alongside key decision-makers to ensure young voices are heard at every level.

The group is made up of members with lived experience of additional support needs. They help by sharing their perspectives, ensuring the service reflects what matters to young people, advising on how information is presented, helping design and improve resources, and making sure the service listens to and respects children’s voices.

Despite being a relatively recent addition to our organisation, the group’s impact is already significant.

One of the key areas the group identified for improvement was the role of educational psychologists within local authorities. The MRMS Young Advisors have already identified a number of topics and issues that they would like to engage with, including the role of educational psychology, the gender differences in ADHD and Autism diagnoses, and how the My Rights, My Say service can reach more children and young people across Scotland.

One of our Young Advisors led a room of second year educational psychology students to stunned silence as she discussed the benefits of empowering young people. Not the awkward kind of silence either, the kind where everyone in the room is leaning forward, keenly listening to every word. The lecturer asked us afterwards to: “Please tell the Young Advisor again that their insight and honesty taught us all so many lessons in that short two hours.”

A proud day for the group.

The impact and influence of the group is no accident given our processes at Children in Scotland. We implement the work of Professor Laura Lundy in our direct work with Children and Young people. Her ‘Lundy Model’ is used organisation-wide when it comes to

participation to ensure that UNCRC’s Article 12 (Children’s right to be heard) is put into practice.

The Lundy Model provides a structured checklist to ensure the MRMS Young Advisors are able to share their views in ways that are meaningful to them – and we make sure that those views are listened to and acted upon. Maintaining this model in alignment with the work the group does ensures we are truly involving young people in the decision-making process of the service.

The model is divided into four interrelated elements:

Space: Children and young people must be given safe, inclusive opportunities to form and express their views

Voice: Children and young people must be supported to express their views

Audience: Their views must be listened to

Influence: The views must be acted upon, as appropriate

We try to meet Lundy’s requirements by creating a physically comfortable, inclusive space where all young people feel safe to share their thoughts without fear of judgement. This ensures the environment is accessible and welcoming to everyone.

Our Young Advisors are listened to attentively, engaged with and communicated to with different styles and methods to suit various preferences and abilities. We check whether our activities connect with people who have genuine authority, so our Advisors’ voices reach the right audience. We also record and celebrate their achievements, then reflect on the evidence of how these contributions have influenced change.

…and, to date, we’ve done so incredibly well. There has been strong rapport built within the group, creating trust so the young people feel comfortable sharing their ideas openly. We book venues that are clean, comfortable and risk-assessed, containing access to quiet spaces and a diverse range of resources, toys and materials to work with. We provide clear and concise information and guidance, using accessible language so our Advisors can use their voice with confidence.

It might be too early to quantify the impact of the group’s influence at this stage, but we aren’t short of excitement about the direction the group is heading in and some of the work we have planned.

Even more so after a successful application to funding from ‘Young Start,’ a programme provided by the National Lottery Community Fund to help young people become more confident and play an active part in realising their full potential. This will take our current budget levels, covering basic day-to-day running of the service, limited staff hours and equipment, into a transformative position.

An application, by the way, heavily contributed to by our Young Advisors:

“Everything we do is our decision. The first question we’re asked when joining the group is what do you want to do? I do lots of volunteering and it is usually based off what adults tell you. What makes this group so powerful is that we get so say what we want…

“We feel it is important that adults feel comfortable stepping to the side and give us space to take the lead. As our group grows this is how we will continue to develop.

“At the moment we have many more opportunities that we are able to take on - with this funding we would be able to reach so many more people than we currently can.”

I say this with a lot of passion… these are some of the most inspiring young people I’ve ever worked with. They don’t just show up, they give me so much to think about.

When you give young people the trust, tools and space to lead, they rise to it. It’s all about giving them that chance.

They’ve been a pleasure to work with and I can’t wait to see what they produce over the coming years. Watch this space!