Youth talk. We listen.

Thursday, 25 June 2020

Creating a future solution for youth mental health and wellbeing.

On 25 June, 2020, Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health and HSE Health & Wellbeing are co-hosting a unique online event, giving young people across the country the opportunity to contribute to youth mental health policy and planning for Ireland into the future.

“Youth Talk. We Listen” brings together members of Jigsaw, HSE Health and Wellbeing, Healthy Ireland and over 80 young people to identify solutions and to speak to key stakeholders and decision-makers about how best to support and promote youth mental health and wellbeing.

My World Survey 2

In using the key findings from Jigsaw and UCD’s My World Survey 2 (November 2019) as a springboard, the event will hear directly from young people themselves about their mental health and wellbeing experiences in the contexts of where they live, learn, work and play.

Stephanie O’Keeffe, HSE National Director of Strategic Planning and Transformation, who will speak at the virtual event said: “I’m looking forward to hearing from young people about the challenges they have faced and will continue to face as a result of Covid-19. I am also interested in the reflections of how supportive young people have been towards each other and how resilient they have been in addressing issues that impact their mental wellbeing and furthermore, how innovative and supportive young people have been to the wider community.”

Virtual event

The online event, MCed by members of Jigsaw’s Youth Advisory Panel Royanne McGregor and Dean Murray, will feature virtual breakout sessions, celebrity shout-outs, a digital graphic harvester and more. The event will see a suite of solutions and key actions for promoting and supporting young people’s mental health.

Dr. Joseph Duffy, Jigsaw CEO commented, “The voice, opinion, influence and active participation of young people has, since our establishment, been a core tenet to everything Jigsaw does. Without it, we are ill-informed. It is for this reason that ‘Youth Talk. We Listen’ is so important. In joining forces with the HSE Health and Wellbeing, we are saying ‘we are here and we are listening.'”