Co-creating Employment, Education, and Psychological Wellbeing Workshops with Youths of Islington (EMPOWER-Islington) Study Report

The Empower Islington Study is a collaboration between University College London (UCL) and the Youth Employment team of Islington Council London from October 2022 to October 2023. Funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Research England, this collaborative research explores the impact of Covid-19 on 14-to-25-year-olds’ social lives and health outcomes and aims to co-create mental health and life-skill support with young people for young people. Participants currently residing in Islington were invited to take part, most of whom are already in contact with social workers and support team from the council.

The Empower-Islington project aims to:

Aim 1: Understand the barriers to mental health, employment, and education access that are worsening youth outcomes during the pandemic – as assessed by 1-on-1 interviews and consultative focus groups (What support do young people want and how can we empower them now?)

Aim 2: Co-develop five bespoke expert-led workshops and experiential activities based on young people’s voices in Aim 1.

Aim 3: Assess activities in Aim 2 for short-/longer-term impact on young people (e.g., wellbeing/ ideas/behaviours change scores, skills/insights gained) and how project outcomes can have a sustained impact in Islington’s policy, practice, and research.

*Additional workshop resources can be freely accessed and downloaded from OSF: https://osf.io/82pgm/