Co-designing a new health and wellbeing service with young black men in Hackney
A couple of weeks ago, both online and in-person at Shoreditch Town Hall, the Shoreditch Trust, HCVS and TSIP brought together 22 people from across Hackney to take part in a Young Black Men’s Unconference - the first step in a journey to co-design a new health and wellbeing service.
A partnership effort between Shoreditch Trust, Hackney CVS, Shoreditch Town Hall and TSIP, and funded by the City and Hackney Wellbeing Network, this unconference marked the first event in a journey to co-design a new service, empowering young black men to not only participate, but also to lead, facilitate, and shape decision-making to meet their needs. This event was inspired by the Civic Hub model of putting communities at the heart of local decisions, and our trial unconference to address men’s mental health.
Our vision for a Civic Innovation Hub, created with vital input from young people, is a Hackney where every resident can have their say on how to address the biggest social and environmental challenges in their neighbourhood- both identifying challenges and driving solutions. It puts people in the lead through citizen-centred design processes that cater to the needs of different groups. Youth leadership and engagement is a key aspect of the Civic Hub approach. Decisions made by and with young people, not to them, where young people can come together to meet, to laugh, to learn, to decide and to share and where challenges and solutions emerge from the ground, with young people working actively together with their peers and other leaders that they want to involve. Working together from a position of power, influential young voices, together with social action, can create a visible change in communities.
No pre-set agenda
When it comes to the unconference, there’s no pre-set agenda: that’s the premise. Participants in the unconference set the direction for the duration of the session, lasting three and a half hours. We provide the structure, the space and the overall focus around health and wellbeing, but only those young black men get to decide what truly needs to be discussed around their experiences, perspectives and vision.
Uncovering the key issues affecting young black people
Fourteen young black people attended in person, with eight other individuals joining us on Zoom. Merging online and face-to-face spaces came with its challenges, but everything ran smoothly on the day. One key learning from this approach was managing the online and offline in harmony spaces to ensure we created an inclusive environment that was never where one was at the expense of another. Logistically, one example here was making sure that everyone attending in-person was speaking into a microphone to ensure that everyone attending online could hear the conversation. On the one hand, this slightly increased the level of formality in the room, but it also ensured that everybody respecting their peers and their contribution by waiting to speak.
The participants set the 7 topics which were then discussed in breakout group discussions:
Community/wellbeing at work
Identity
Education
Inclusivity – especially of black women
Black history in the UK
Police brutality - stop and search, gun and knife crime
Black Lives Matter
The Unconference served as a statement of intent for the young black men, and space to really speak to the reality of the challenges and what needed to change. Incredible discussions emerged, ranging from acknowledging the burden of being black in a country and system which prejudices and discriminates based on the colour of your skin through to exploring how education and workplaces could improve their inclusivity.
We discussed how in schools, black students are attributed character failures based on prejudice rather than treated with the consideration afforded to white students - instead of more support, it was more punishment or exclusion, and their mental health often goes unnoticed.
We covered the trauma embedded by generations of systemic oppression, and how this leads to young black men and women avoiding their stereotypes and in the process losing their sense of identity.
We reflected on current services and how these did not reflect the specific needs of many young black men in Hackney or even spoke to their lived experience. There was a question concerning wellbeing services, and what aspect of the black experience informed them employment.
We also talked about black lives matter, and the inherent frustration that came with this becoming a priority because of its status as a trend – and how to ensure it remains an essential part of conversation and change moving forward.
What happens next?
At the end of the unconference, we asked participants to share the one key theme for us to take forward to the next stage in the co-design process for creating this new health and wellbeing service in the design challenges.
Based on the discussions during the day, key themes emerged as the key priorities for exploring further. With a smaller group of young black men (taking into consideration the priorities of attendees) we will prioritise and select a maximum of two topics to delve into. Below are the key topics, with the number of individuals who identified that theme as a priority:
Education (6) – exploring how to improve YBM’s experiences in education, including addressing discrimination and prejudice
Workplace wellbeing (4) – identifying ways to increase equity and inclusivity in the workplace
Racism and equality (3) – increasing diversity and inclusion across key areas (police, NHS, etc.)
Black identity (2) – exploring the role that history and environment has on YBM’s identity, and how to create opportunities for YBM to decide and feel confident in their own unique identities
Black women (1) – addressing the oppression of black women and the intersectionality of race and gender
Policing (1) – exploring ways to address injustice in the treatment of YBM by the police
Safe spaces for wellbeing (1) – creating spaces for young black men to decide, discuss, learn and reflect
The insights that were uncovered during the Unconference will be taken forward to two design challenges where participants will work through a human-centred design process to create a set of prototypes. One of these prototypes will then be taken forward and piloted by Shoreditch Trust, funded through the City and Hackney Wellbeing Network. We’re really looking forward to the next stage where we’ll be providing the design approach and training some young black men from the network as facilitators so they can facilitate the two sessions with their peers.
Personal reflections and learnings
This experience was unique and inspiring for me in a few different ways. We were applying an event model I had designed for the second time, this time adapted and driven by one of our closest partners in Hackney, Shoreditch Trust. This model built on participants’ priorities to create the agenda and focus for the group discussions themselves and continues to be an approach that encourages real, authentic and impactful engagement from those involved. I’m looking forward to the design challenges which are the next stage in the process where I’ll also be training some of the participants in facilitation so that they themselves can facilitate and drive the discussions.
This was also my first time attending a hybrid-online-offline event. Kudos to Femi Ade-Davis from Shoreditch Trust who led and organised the event combining face-to-face and digital. On the day, I was responsible for ensuring everything ran smoothly from an online perspective and it was no easy feat! I cannot stress the importance of good VC equipment when seeking to build a space that brings together people online and in-person. Also, a big shout shout-out to the team at Shoreditch Town Hall, who was able to pull together all the necessary equipment for us, whether screens, microphones or speakers.
If you’re interested to know more about the work we’re doing in Hackney or want to get involved in the future, drop me an email