Since 2018, Together As One has been delivering the Young Health Champions (YHC) programme on behalf of Frimley Integrated Care Board (ICB). The programme supports young people to become confident, informed advocates for positive mental health, while ensuring their lived experiences help shape local health services.

The scheme is underpinned by a nationally recognised qualification accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health. Through this qualification, young people learn about public health and mental health, and are supported to design and deliver their own health improvement messages to peers and wider communities.

Secret Shopping Local Health Services

A key strength of the Young Health Champions programme is its emphasis on meaningful engagement with real services. Young people explore local health provision, building confidence to access and signpost to support, while developing an informed understanding of service delivery and opportunities for improvement from a young person’s perspective.

As part of our delivery in Slough, and with the support of Frimley ICB, Together As One is able to ensure that young people’s feedback is shared not only with commissioners, but also directly with the services themselves. This creates a clear feedback loop, helping services understand young people’s experiences and supporting commissioners to drive improvement across the system.

You Said, We Listened, We Did

This year, 30 students from ten local schools took part in the programme. As part of their qualification, the young people carried out a “secret shopping” exercise across eight local health services, including CAMHS and Number 22. They explored issues such as accessibility, communication, clarity of information, and how welcoming and youth-friendly services felt.

Crucially, their feedback has been heard and acted upon.

As a direct result of the Young Health Champions’ insights, both commissioners and services have made changes to improve how young people experience and access support. This demonstrates the powerful impact young people can have when their voices are listened to, valued, and taken seriously.

Below is a summary of the changes that have been implemented as a direct consequence of their work – a clear example of You said. We listened. We did.
For a comprehensive summary of the feedback and associated service improvements, please click here: YHCs: You said, We listened, We did  

Service	YHCs said	We did	Next steps
Youth Stop Vaping	Hard to find information, unclear access, poor digital communication	Created a clear youth vaping web hub and explored new referral routes	Improve responsiveness, tone and digital access
Kooth	Young people felt the referral process was long, confusing and slow to follow up	Moved from Integrated Digital Pathway (IDP) to core Kooth.com pathway and introduced SMS contact	Monitor engagement and improve continuity
Number 22	Clear service and website but unclear crisis support	Refocused on counselling capacity and clearer signposting	Grow face-to-face and community work
The Garden Clinic	Website unclear, privacy concerns, limited youth engagement	Updating website, expanding social media, creation of the Youth Patient Forum	Engage more young people through Youth Patient Forum
CAMHS	Difficult to find East Berkshire CAMHS site and complete referrals	Shared feedback to inform wider Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (BHFT) website redesign	Improve visibility, form clarity and usability
Getting Help Team (CAMHS)	Referral form confusing, jargon-heavy, form didn’t display well on phones	The referral form is now accessible directly from the CAMHS Getting Help Team page on the BHFT website	Reduce jargon and strengthen awareness of service