Happy 9th Birthday to the Sheffield Children’s Youth Forum!

Nine years ago today, the Sheffield Children’s Youth Forum was formed!

With almost a decade of hard work under their belts, the Youth Forum continue to enact positive change across Sheffield Children’s – championing our unified purpose of delivering a healthier future for children and young people.

To mark their birthday celebrations, Youth Forum members old and new, alongside a variety of members of the Sheffield Children’s community, descended on the Joy Garden at Sheffield Children’s Hospital for an evening jam-packed full of exciting activities.

Over the course of the event, visitors were able to enter the world of virtual reality using a VR headset, catch up with old friends, and interact with Sparkle and Keegan, some of our amazing Therapy Dogs! Attendees were even able to get involved with Visual Arts and Electronic Music workshops facilitated by ArtPlus, Sheffield Children’s dedicated arts team funded by Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity.

The Sheffield Children’s Youth Forum meets every month to talk about the issues that matter most to them. The team use their platform to support patients and families across Sheffield Children’s, learning new skills and building their confidence in the process. The young people also get exclusive opportunities to see behind the scenes at a specialist children’s trust and develop their own career aspirations.

These celebrations rounded off another successful year for the Youth Forum, who have been involved in a slew of exciting projects and developments across Sheffield Children’s. Whether championing the implementation of more green spaces across our different sites, advocating for patient safety to local councillors or even having a member co-present at our recent Caring Together Conference, the Youth Forum continue to make a difference for children and young people accessing services across our different sites.

Odessa Sanderson-Gillard and Natalie Parkin oversee the activities of the Youth Forum in their roles as Youth Liaison and Engagement Coordinators.

Odessa commented: “The work that the Youth Forum have done this year has been remarkable, so we wanted to make sure that their achievements were celebrated! “

Nat added: “Giving them a space to recognise and reflect on their amazing work over the past year is so important, especially as we look forward to our tenth birthday celebrations next year.”

Ruth Brown, Chief Executive at Sheffield Children’s, presented members of the Youth Forum with certificates to thank the forum for their outstanding effort over the past year. Ruth added: “We’re so proud of what the Youth Forum have achieved not only over the past year, but over the past nine years too. We can’t wait to see what they get up to over the next 12 months as we head towards Sheffield Children’s 150^th birthday in 2026!”

We’d like to say a massive Sheffield Children’s thank you to members of the Sheffield Children’s Youth Forum for theory hard work and dedication over the last nine years.

Are you a patient at Sheffield Children’s? Has your brother or sister received care? To find out more about the Youth Forum, please email scn-tr.transitionteam@nhs.net or call 0114 3053768.