Youth Connection
Do you want to gain valuable experience in mental health research?
Expand your knowledge, contribute to research, learn new skills and meet new people, meet and work with leading academics, clinicians and professionals working in the mental health sector and enhance your CV and develop skills for careers in research, academia, healthcare, marketing and more.
Please note our next group sessions will begin in September 2026. You can apply below.
Now a registered volunteer AAP with Duke of Edinburgh Award, Youth Connection is a young people’s research group which supports the GM.Digital research unit at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH), by guiding their research agenda.
The group meets regularly to hear from researchers developing digital mental health apps, and more importantly, for the young people to offer their feedback and thoughts on projects within this area.
Youth Connection was awarded the YPii Involvement Team/Group of the Year Award 2022 which recognises the group’s ability to add value to research proposals and ongoing projects.
The group helped to co-design an app through a series of online workshops, using prototyping and usability testing tools. This enabled the research team to make meaningful changes to their project based on the feedback and contributions from Youth Connection.
Youth Connection is held fortnightly online from 5pm to 6pm and is open to anyone between the ages of 14 to 25.
"I joined GM.Digital in January 2020 due to my interest in psychology. Due to this group, I have given advice on several studies and even collaborated with GM.Digital on a research study of my own. I would hignly recommend GM.Digital to anyone interested in doing psychology."
Monty
"I really enjoyed the meeting
as we got the chance to both individually share our experience interacting with the app and also have insightful discussions with others in the group!"
Sundas
"A fantastic talk in our GM.Digital class recently. Came away having learned lots and feeling inspired. Really demonstrated how individuals can be drivers of wider positive change. For all the (valid) criticism of MH services, there are services doing much-needed innovative work."
Heema
Frequently asked questions
What is Digital Mental Health Research?
Looking at how digital technology can be used to support mental health and wellbeing e.g. using mobile apps, virtual reality, wearables etc. These can be used alongside face-to-face work. It’s driven by the needs of service users – so it could be anything!
What are the sessions like?
They’re informal and welcoming. We have lots of variety in the sessions and love inviting guests to talk about their work – researchers, clinicians, animators, software technicians, project managers – anyone who works in the area of digital health and/or mental health.
If there is something you’d really like to hear more about, please let us know and we will arrange a session for you.
Is it a support group?
No, but many of our members find the group positive.