Volunteers help brighten up children’s health centre at Wrexham Maelor Hospital

Children, young people and volunteers have teamed up to create new art work to brighten up child health clinic rooms at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

The volunteering day, held at Wrexham Child Health Centre, was run in partnership between Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), and Senedd yr Ifanc, run by Wrexham County Council.

The volunteers’ new art works have been hung up along new freshly painted feature walls in the Child Health Centre’s clinic rooms.

Senedd yr Ifanc is Wrexham’s Youth Parliament, and is made up of young people aged 11-25 who work on the issues that matter to the young people of Wrexham.

The event is part of a wide range of activities being run following feedback from young people. A focus group was created to hear young people’s opinions of the CAMHS environment and what they would suggest to improve the service for the children and young people attending appointments.

The survey, led by Senedd yr Ifanc, reached a total of 947 children and young people aged 10-25, who lived, worked, socialised or were educated in Wrexham.

Following a report being published in April 2021, CAMHS and the Senedd yr Ifanc have taken a number of actions forward, including improvements to the webpages, clinic rooms, outdoor areas, information and resources for children and young people.

Wendy Pinder, Head of Nursing for Children and Young People, East CAMHS, Neurodevelopmental Services and Learning Disabilities, said: “It was a pleasure to spend the day volunteering with other organisations, along with the children and young people who use our services, creating some art work to improve and add some colour to the clinics.

“It was such a positive experience for everyone involved, and I’m looking forward to continuing to hold activity events like this in the future.

“Following the feedback we’ve received from the 2021 report, we have developed an action plan which is ongoing and we will continue to implement recommendations.”

CAMHS focus on helping children and young people who experience emotional, behavioural and other psychological difficulties. CAMHS supports families and their children from birth to 18 years and is staffed by multi-disciplinary teams which include CAMHS Practitioners, Nurses, Child Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, and other professionals who work with children and young people.

Caroline Bennett, Participation Coordinator for the Senedd yr Ifanc, said: “It was a lovely session and great to see the young people’s creative sides produce two fantastic pieces of art work.

“It’s encouraging to see the results of the Senedd yr Ifanc’s consultation and the voice of Wrexham young people start to take shape, thank you to all the staff and young people involved, looking forward to the next volunteering day.”