what was the project all about?
We were delighted when the National Youth Justice Board reached out to us to lead a youth voice consultation project. They wanted it to form part of their training developments for professionals working with young people within the Youth Justice and Youth Offending systems.
We arranged for four young people aged 14+ to work alongside a professional filmmaker, so they could create a short film about their experiences of assessments and make sure their voices were heard.
what did the young people do?
The young people worked with the filmmaker in one-to-one creative workshops where they learnt skills in:
- Animation
- Voiceover
- Filmmaking
- Scriptwriting
- Storyboarding
By using these creative outlets to explore their experiences and feelings of assessments, we were able to create a film which authentically reflected the young people’s voices.
why was this project important?
As part of our commitment to championing children and young people’s voices, we led this project to ensure young people within the Youth Justice sector would have their voices and experiences truly heard. The purpose? To influence change by challenging perceptions of professionals, and current processes, so that support for young people under assessment in the future could be improved.