COVID-19 Q&A Webinar for Young People
We had almost 20 young people join our first online Q&A. We worked with the Young People at Imperial Big Room, Young Healthwatch Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Police Cadets and the young people's mental health experts Kooth to design an event where young people could raise their questions about coronavirus. You can read a summary of the questions asked here.
The event was hosted by Kiera (Deputy Head Volunteer Police Cadet for Hammersmith and Fulham) with support from co-hosts Ciaran (Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Police Cadet) and Arthur and Rupert (volunteers with Young Healthwatch Westminster).
Young people were invited to ask their questions to a panel of experts:
• Dr Katie Malbon, Paediatric consultant at St Mary’s Hospital and lead for adolescent medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
• Dr Serena Braccio, registrar in and Paediatric Allergy at St Mary’s Hospital
• Ashani Hailstones-Lee, Integration and Participation Worker with Kooth
Watch Rupert's video about highlights from the webinar and read Katie Malbon's reflections on the Q&A below:
On July 30 2020 we collaborated with Health Watch CWL Youth Forum and Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Police cadets to provide a one hour webinar answering pressing questions and dispelling myths about COVID-19, which are on the minds of young people.
This idea came out of the CC4C ‘CHAT’ series which runs similar webinars for parents in the North West London region. During one of our weekly Young People @ Imperial meetings, we decided to organise a webinar specifically for young people who may be struggling to find the ‘right’ information. With the help of H&F Police cadets and the Health Watch Youth Forum information was disseminated about the webinar both digitally and via flyers which were produced by the volunteers.
Kiera (Deputy Head Cadet) was a fabulous main host for the hour, supported by Ciaran (Hammersmith adn fulham Cadet), Arthur and Rupert (volunteers with Young Healthwatch Westminster). I was on the panel alongside Ashani from Kooth.com and Serena, a Paediatric registrar who has participated in the CC4C CHAT webinars. We broke the ice with some questions which had previously been sent in to the hosts and then the hosts facilitated taking the questions directly from the chat. The event took place on Microsoft TEAMs and ran pretty smoothly all things considered. 16 young people joined the webinar and the feedback was exceptional, receiving a 5-star rating with comments such as ‘Really well chaired and facilitated’ and ‘Got through lots of questions and shared lots of helpful information’.
We hope to repeat these webinars on covid-19 and or other health related issues relevant to young people today – so watch this space!
