Hampshire and IOW selected for youth-centred wellbeing programme BeeWell

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been selected as the next location for the pioneering #BeeWell https://gmbeewell.org/, England’s largest youth-centred wellbeing program. The program has been running in Greater Manchester since 2021, and from Spring 2023, it will be delivered across all four Local Authorities in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System area. The goal of #BeeWell is to seek the views of young people in the region to influence and improve the wellbeing services available to them, both locally and nationally.

The #BeeWell program, founded by the University of Manchester, National Lottery Community Fund, Anna Freud Centre, and Gregson Family Foundation, will survey young people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight about a range of topics, including their emotions, relationships, aspirations, and health. The survey will be designed in collaboration with young people and delivered in Autumn 2023 to secondary age pupils in mainstream schools, special schools, independent schools, and alternative provision settings.

Anonymised results will then be shared privately with schools, and also publicly via an online neighbourhood dashboard, with the aim of inspiring action across local government and civil society. Schools, local communities, voluntary sector organisations, and young people are among the groups that will be called on to act on the results and help bring about positive change to young people’s wellbeing provision.

Over £4 million has been raised to deliver #BeeWell in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight over three years, including £1.6 million from the National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK. The program offers a unique opportunity to accelerate local priorities surrounding young people’s wellbeing, including mental health, which is a key strand across all four Local Authorities’ individual strategies for children, young people, and families.

Councillor Edward Heron, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Lead Member for Children’s Services, said, “We are incredibly excited and privileged to be working alongside our colleagues in local government to deliver #BeeWell across the region, and to be part of the early steps towards making it a nationally recognised program.”

The #BeeWell program has already heard from over 60,000 young people in Greater Manchester in its third year. It has led partners such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Arts Council England, and local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations to leverage significant investment into improving wellbeing services and provisions for young people where they are needed most.

Neil Humphrey, Academic Lead for the #BeeWell program, said, “All four Local Authorities across Hampshire and Isle of Wight share our vision to make young people’s wellbeing everybody’s business, and we are excited to work with young people in the region to create a version of the program that builds on the strengths and successes of our work in Greater Manchester while also meeting locally identified priorities.”

Schools and organisations interested in the #BeeWell programme in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight can email: [email protected]