The Isle of Wight Youth Trust is calling on all young Islanders aged 11-25 years to take part in an online survey to share their experiences of how COVID-19 has impacted on their mental health and wellbeing.
The Youth Trust has consulted with young people and key organisations across the Island, including Public Health, Healthwatch and Childrens’ Services, to develop this survey which will provide a snapshot of young people’s experiences of COVID-19 so far.
Youth Trust Chief Executive, Clare Cannock, says that as services restore after lockdown, it is vital that young people are at the centre of those plans.
Clare says:
“Here at the Youth Trust we feel strongly that our young people should be setting the agenda for the services they access. The outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted us all, but in very different ways. Through our Covid Candid Survey, we are asking young Islanders to share their experiences and help us make sure that we are meeting their needs as we develop our services moving out of lockdown.
“We have seen a surge in national studies to understand the impact of COVID-19 and as always we need quality, local data that captures the unique experiences of young people on the Isle of Wight, to better understand how we fit into that picture.
“While we’ve been delivering online and phone counselling since March, and working alongside the young people on our Taskforce to understand young people’s experience of the pandemic, we know that the more young people we speak to, the better our service will be. That’s why the data we collect from this survey will be shaping how we support young Islanders over the coming months”.
Clare adds:
“This is a community effort. Many of the usual avenues of reaching young people are still closed due to COVID, so we can only deliver this survey online. To include as many young people as possible, we are offering the chance to win one of two £50 Amazon vouchers for anyone completing the survey online and would encourage everyone aged 11-25 to get involved and share the survey with their friends.”
Young Islanders can anonymously complete the survey online at www.iowyouthtrust.co.uk/survey between Wednesday 22nd July and Sunday 9th August.
The Youth Trust will be publicly releasing findings from this survey once analysis has been completed.
