Mental Health Champions Needed in North Yorkshire

The Champions’ role will involve promoting The Go-To mental health website, which started earlier in the year.

NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has begun a search to recruit Go-To mental health Champions.

The Champions’ role will involve promoting The Go-To mental health website (www.thegoto.org.uk), launched by NHS North Yorkshire CCG earlier in the summer to help children and young people, and playing an active part in developing fresh content.

The CCG is looking for young people, parents and professionals who have an interest in mental health and wellbeing to volunteer and get involved.

NHS North Yorkshire CCG GP Clinical Lead for Vulnerable People, Dr Peter Billingsley, said:

“Anyone can be a Go-To Champion. Perhaps you are a parent wanting to support your child’s mental health, or maybe you are a professional, who wants to do more.

Being a Go-To Champion is also a great opportunity for young people to support one another, through a community of other Champions. With the current climate being full of uncertainty for young people and graduates due to Covid-19 – and exam results just around the corner – this could be a healthy way of channelling those feelings and your time, as well as it looking good on your CV.

Mostly, being a Go-To Champion is about being a positive role model, which could not only help improve your own mental health and wellbeing, but that of young people in the rest of North Yorkshire too.”

NHS North Yorkshire CCG is suggesting three ways people can get involved as a Go-To Champion:

  1.    Write and review content for The Go-To website
  2.    Help manage social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook and Twitter)
  3.    Create an online blog for The Go-To website, sharing experiences of mental health and tackling some of the stigma that still exists

If people would like to support The Go-To website in other ways, the CCG says it is happy to “shape the role around volunteers”.

To get involved or for more information, please email ny.cyp@nhs.net.