The Listening Hub

Between January and April 2024 the Listening Hub reviewed a number of consultations with young people, undertaken in the last few years which showed that mental health and well-being was a top concern.  This information was shared with agencies across Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) and we asked services to provide feedback and updates on how they were supporting young people across the city. Have a look below to find out what some of the agencies told us in March - April 2024 and what services young people can access for support.   

We spoke to the commissioning team in Salford who were able to talk to us about Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Salford.  This is what they told us:

• Waiting times are monitored by commissioners and reported locally and across Greater Manchester and there are NHS standards. There is a requirement that all NHS commissioned Child and Young Person Mental Health providers submit data on how many young people they have contacts with in a year and there are NHS standards around waiting times.
• There is ongoing work locally to gather data on waiting time measures relating to Neuro Development services. 
• Waiting times for Neuro Development assessments are often longer than for other mental health and well-being assessments and this is seen not just in Salford but across the country.  The providers of Neuro Development assessments in Salford are CAMHS and Community Pediatrics. Currently CAMHS provides both ADHD and ASD assessments, whilst Community Pediatrics provides ASD assessments for younger/primary age children.
• General waiting times for accessing CAMHS mental heath assessments and support (excluding Neuro Development assessments) in Salford are very good, and one of the highest performing in Greater Manchester.  Typically a young person will have their first 3 appointments within 12 weeks. However, waiting times will vary by provider and are dependent on service demand and service capacity.
• When looking at the data it is important to consider that the level and complexity of need for a young person, may mean that more work is involved in supporting the young person and the longer they may need that help. Therefore comparing waiting times of one provider against another may not be helpful, as the services they offer are different.

Advocacy Focus who provide advocacy services in Salford and across the North-West told us:

• We have used social media in our organisation to discuss Mental Health and promote the advocacy service for those who may have mental health needs. 
• We have accessed and promoted a Young Person’s Mental Health First Aider course Youth Mental Health First Aid Training - Advocacy Focus
• We have promoted our Self Help Booklets which can be great tools for supporting people with Mental Health and Wellbeing Resource Hub - Advocacy Focus
• We create social media posts to raise awareness of  Mental Health Week and promote services for those in crisis/need of support
• We have delivered a session at a school in Salford talking about advocacy and issues and trends found by young people.  This was also shared on social media. This session also included the self-help toolkits and promoted the support we offer around mental health needs.
• We attend local and regional meetings focused on mental health.  At these we contribute to the activities and listen to themes that young people feel are important for mental health support.

Advocacy focus also told us that they raise awareness of their service through:

• Completing awareness sessions within social care teams, residential homes and team meetings for different agencies and that they are organising more of these sessions in schools to raise awareness for advocacy with Cared For children and to promote the service.
• Promoting advocacy services across social media pages for young people to access and consult with young people about making information more accessible, including using QR codes and how the website and resources look.

Below are some stories of young people who have accessed advocacy support:

• David's Story - Advocacy Focus is about a young person who accessed mental health advocacy to support him to understand his rights under S3 Mental Health Act.
• Sam's Story - Advocacy Focus is about a young person who was supported by an advocate to access funding for post 18 therapy services.

Visit Advocacy Support for more information about the services they offer.

Gaddum and 42nd Street also provided us with valuable feedback for young people about how to access their services and about some of the ways they are working to support high numbers of young people across the City.

The Children and Young People’s Salford Thrive Directory is an excellent resource that has local and national information about support and services Salford Thrive Directory•Salford City Council

For more information, resources and advice for adults,children and young people in Salford you can also visit  Mental health and wellbeing | Partners in Salford

P4PC are a group of parents and carers from in and around Salford.  They have all had involvement with Children's Services, for lots of different reasons and want to work together with services to make positive changes.

In April 2023 P4PC joined the Listening Hub. Working closely with the SSCP Participation Lead and representatives from Children's Services, P4PC are involved in a number of projects to improve the experience of children and families, who may need help and support from statutory services in Salford.

Visit the SSCP Parents 4 Positive Change webpage for more information about the work of the group and how to get involved.

In January 2023 an event was held to launch the updated Support and Safeguarding Guidance for Salford.  Young people from Salford produced a video which was shown at the event.  The video titled The Safeguarding Zone explains to others what safeguarding is and some of the main features of the guidance.

An Adolescent Strategy for Salford was developed, to set out how partnership agencies can best work together to support young people in the City.

The SSCP sought to hear from a range of young people to help inform the strategy. A short survey was developed to gather these views. The survey closed on 24th July 2022. A second survey for schools was distributed in September 2022. In total over 500 young people completed the survey.  The 3 year Adolescent Strategy and a summary version were publish in April 2023.  The finished strategy was presented to the Youth Council on completion.

The Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) held a Listening Hub event at The Lowry, Salford, entitled "Emotional Health and Wellbeing". The event was aimed at children in Year 6 and above, young people, parents and carers as well as professionals working with children and young people in Salford.

This Lunch Bowl launched the Listening Hub and showed an animation video produced by young people and parents to illustrate the purpose and vision of the Listening Hub and provided their views of why it is important to listen to their voices.  

Feedback and analysis from young people, parents and professionals from the  “Keeping children safe online” event was shared, as well as the Salford Listening Standards and Listening Loops. Partnerships and organisations were encouraged to adopt the Listening Loops, to enables greater listening, action and feedback to children, young people and adults. 

From this event further networking with other partnerships have been made who will be joining the Listening Hub. We want to ensure that we are capturing the views and voices of a wide range of children, young people, parents/carers, and those with lived experiences in Salford. This include parents and carers voices such as the 'Salford Parents for Positive Change' group. Any parents that wish to join or want more information about this group please get in touch, contact details are available on the Parent and carers page. 

The first Listening Hub event was held as a hybrid event face to face at The Beacon Centre and online with young people, parents and professionals. There were approximately 20 participants who all actively engaged with four questions that were posed regarding online safety. The focus was on listening to the voices of young people, parents, and professionals.

A report has been produced which captured the feedback of all attendees. From this a short presentation summarises the feedback and next steps. It was evident that this work will need to continue with young people leading this with parents and professionals. A "Listening Loop" will be completed to ensure focus and continuity. It is also hoped that partners within the Listening Hub will stay connected with this work. 

Follow up work in 2022 included young people contributing to information about the online world on the SSCP website and providing quotes for use on webpages.

• Salford standards for listening
• Views and voice resources

Please feel free to use and share these short clips from the Listening Hub animation video.

• Soundbite 1 Introduction
• Soundbite 2 We want to hear from you
• Soundbite 3 Encourage young people
• Soundbite 4 Everyone has a different story
• Soundbite 5 Children to be the best that they can be
• Soundbite 6 My opinions are worth something
• Soundbite 7 Changing what is going to happen

Please use the accessible Listening Loop Template and guidance to show case how you have listened, actions taken and feedback provided. 

• Accessible Listening Loop Template
• Listening Loop Guidance

Please see completed Listening Loops below:

• Online Safety Project 2023
• Seldom Heard Event 2023 (CVS)
• Support and safeguarding consultation with parents - 2022
• Peer on Peer Sexual Abuse & Harassment
• Keeping Children Safe Online Event Oct 2021