Northern Ireland Youth Forum

The “Wellness Warriors” project by the Northern Ireland Youth Forum will increase the quantity, quality and availability of mental health services to young women and provide holistic support delivered using youth work methodologies. 

Northern Ireland Youth Forum (NIYF) is a regional youth led organisation. Their purpose is to promote the voices of young people, speaking truth to power. NIYF’s vision is that all young people have opportunities to have a say on issues that affect their lives. The Youth Forum is a member-based organisation and membership is open to all young people living in Northern Ireland aged between 11 and 25.

Whilst NIYF deliver mental health services, they have no dedicated worker to target young women. We awarded the NIYF with a three-year grant totalling, £90,000 to fund a ‘Relentless Youth Worker’ to run the Wellness Warriors project. Wellness Warriors will increase the quantity, quality and availability of mental health services to young women through holistic support delivered using youth work methodologies.

The programme will include: group work, case work, peer support, building resilience through youth participation and drop-in sessions. Wellness Warriors will aim to support young women who have a range of complex mental health issues, including post-natal mental health issues, victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, those who have experience infant mortality and those who have experienced discrimination and barriers due to ethnicity, disability, immigration status, sexuality etc.

From their first year, NIYF shared some responses from participants. One young woman shared that the programme offered her a chance to ‘share with each other things that you normally wouldn’t speak to each other about’. Another shared that it’s ‘a lot easier sometimes, just realising that you’re not only person that goes through it and there’s other people like you and they’re here for you.’ Although it’s early in the programme, feedback like this shows the impact NIYF’s programme is having on the young women they work with.

NIYF is part of the first cohort of the Young Women’s Mental Health programme, where we’ve committed £5 million over 5 years to improve the mental health of young women aged 16-25 years old. Find out more about Northern Ireland Youth Forum.