West Somerset Young Advisors Case Study by Samantha Webber
Training Councillors in Devon

West Somerset Young Advisors travelled to Devon to provide training to some Councillors based around engaging young people. Starting with some brief information about Young Advisors we then went straight into a quick and simple icebreaker which asked everyone to introduce themselves and say a superpower they’d like and why.

We then followed with other involvement activities such as creating stereotypes and feeding them back, the ladder of participation, discussing controversial topics, planning a consultation and the balloon game! We aimed to inform the Councillors that young people are a vital part to decision making and general engagement in communities and that sometimes councillors need to make that initial step to a relationship.

We explained that in many scenarios going to a council office for a consultation can be extremely intimidating for a young person and it would put them off getting involved. However if the Councillors were to go into a young person’s environment it would break this barrier and receiving information would be much more achievable. As well as this we emphasised that breaking stereotypes and stigmas – especially when it concerns clothing – is vital. It was clear that certain members of the training felt that young people didn’t have interests in their environment due to the way they presented themselves and their body language. However we reversed this and showed it from a different perspective, which included the point that Councillors wearing suits, can be intimidating and young people, can feel judged due to this authoritative presentation. By the end of the training we all had a better understanding of thoughts and feelings from both parties.

We had some great feedback about the training and what we do as Young Advisors, not only were we congratulated on the effort we’re putting in for young people but there was some great interest in Devon Councillors possibly setting up a group themselves. It was good practice for us to meet and train different people with different views and we’re now looking into training other Councillors in and around the area.