top of page

Youth Connection

Do you want to gain valuable experience in mental health research?

​

  • Expand your knowledge

  • Contribute to research

  • Learn new skills

  • Meet new people

  • Hear from leading academics, clinicians and professionals working in the mental health sector

  • Enhance your CV

  • Develop skills for careers in research, academia, healthcare, marketing and more.

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 technology, and more importantly, for the young people to offer their feedback and thoughts on projects within this area, learn about research, and develop their own research proposal.​

​​

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.​

​

The sessions are held fortnightly online from 5pm to 6pm and are open to anyone interested in mental health between the ages of 14 to 25.​​

​

Youth Connection is now a registered volunteer AAP with Duke of Edinburgh Award.

​

Please note our next group sessions will begin in September 2026. You can apply below.

"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!"

"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." 

"I joined GM.Digital due

to my interest in psychology. As a

result, I have given advice on several

studies and even collaborated with GM.Digital on a research study of my own.

I would highly recommend Youth

Connection to anyone interested in

doing psychology."

Sign up to Youth Connection

How did you find out about Youth Connection?

FAQS

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.

bottom of page