How can you engage young people throughout multiple phases of research? Three different Healthy Start projects joined forces to address this challenge. PhD candidate Eva Borkhuis (Healthy Start), postdoc Sophie Sweijen (PRAATPOWER), and social designer Robin Smits (Well-B-Young project/Healthy Start) jointly organized a day of creative activities with young people at our Healthy Start Hub in the heart of Rotterdam.

Young people from various schools throughout the Netherlands, who had previously participated in focus groups on mental well-being, were invited. With their experience and insights into what’s important for their mental well-being, we took this one step further: sharing ideas and developing system-oriented solutions to improve mental well-being.

We built on the initial insights from the research and, through creative working methods, developed new solutions to improve mental well-being at school, with friends, during leisure time, or online.

What did these young people find most important?

• That everyone has a trustworthy person at school whom they can truly turn to, even when they’re not experiencing serious problems. “I think everyone needs that, actually, but many people don’t know about it or don’t dare to break through that barrier.”

• That young people connect through their shared interests and do fun things together.
  “This way, people are more easily brought together, and people are with their own group of people. So they’re less likely to become lonely.”

Besides valuable insights for research, this day also provided a lot of fun. Do you know someone who would like to join the discussion? Contact Robin, Eva, or Sophie!

Thanks to Susanna Osinga for her input and beautiful material designs, Mila for her practical support, Marinka van Kampen for co-moderating and taking great photos, and of course, all the young people who participated for their dedication!