What do YES teenagers think about YES?

86 teenagers who participated in the meetings and the activities of the 5 Teen Advisory Groups of the YES Youth Engagement Scheme during the school year 2023-24 were asked to give their opinions and impressions. These are some of what they told us:

"I enjoyed learning that the problems I face are faced by many other teens (most of them) and I'm not alone..."
Seven regular, monthly meetings, several recreational outings, collaborations, dialogue activities in schools, individual and group creation of texts, videos, and other art forms, expression, communication and exchange of views in various ways, discussions with mental health professionals on the theme of "adolescent relationships", with ideas to be used in teacher training programs. These were some of the activities that were included in the 5 Teen Advisory Groups of the YES Youth Engagement Scheme completed for the 2023-24 school year.

At the last meeting of the groups in May, the 86 teens who participated and attended through the groups were asked to give their opinions and impressions. They discussed the program, recorded some of their thoughts, and answered anonymously to a questionnaire to evaluate their participation. On 15-16 June, 30 representatives of the 5 groups met in Thessaloniki and exchanged thoughts, impressions, and suggestions for the future, among themselves and with adults involved in the development of the program.

The Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative listens carefully to the views of adolescents and uses them both for teacher training and for the design of proposed dialogue actions on mental health in schools. In September 2024 there will be an open call for renewal of the adolescent advisory groups.

Watch here the video created based on a podcast with the views of YES teens.
Read some of the teens' responses to the evaluation forms they completed.