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With International Youth Day just around the corner, we’re shining a light on how P3 Charity puts young people’s voices at the heart of our services, using real feedback to inform, adapt and grow. We know that young people’s lives are always evolving, so we must evolve with them, ensuring we continue to deliver the best possible support.
Through annual peer-led reviews of our services, anonymous feedback channels and our People Shaping P3 Board – our board of young people who help shape our services, inform our decisions and feed into our main board of trustees, we make sure that feedback is a hands-on, transparent, practical driver for change that’s shaped by the people who use and understand our services.
The first of its kind, our People Board — People Shaping P3 — puts real power in the hands of the people using our services. It’s a space where the people we support, both young people and adults, can share their experiences and ideas to help shape how P3 Charity works, now and in the future.
Made up from a group of people with lived experience of P3’s services, they review feedback, co-design improvements, sit on interview panels, and advise our leadership, helping to shape how we work. By championing lived experience, the People Board keeps us grounded, accountable and always evolving. For us, it’s important that young people sit alongside adults as equal voices, bringing fresh ideas and lived insights to the table.
Today, we’re in conversation with John*, a young person who turned to P3 Charity for support during a difficult time. Leaving school in the middle of the pandemic, John felt isolated and cut off from the opportunities previously seen as equally available to all young people. Now aged 21 and with support from People Shaping P3, he’s looking ahead with fresh confidence and newly realised self-belief.
As a young person, John’s view on People Shaping P3 is clear: while the People Board is for everyone, its power to empower young people is huge. It doesn’t just give them a voice; it gives them the confidence to use it.
How has P3 Charity empowered you and other young people?
“As a young person coming out of school during COVID, thinking about how bad you’ve been [messed about] by your GCSEs, I felt inadequate for the workplace. Even though I’m not a direct P3 employee, being part of People Shaping P3 has been the next best thing. It’s allowed me to support and contribute to P3 while living my life. People have seen me as a person and made me feel like I can get a job and hold my own – that I won’t be someone’s pity hire.”
What advice would you give to young people who want their voice to be heard about things that matter to them but aren’t sure how, or feel powerless?
“If you have a voice, or an opinion, it deserves to be heard. Even minor things like ‘I don’t like how one specific staff member spoke to me on one specific occasion’ or if you don’t like how [someone] handled something — regardless of how small it is, or what it is… a voice is a voice, and it needs to be heard.
People who try to diminish that don’t deserve to listen to your voice. Some people may say ‘yes’, or ‘no’, or ‘maybe’, but even if you don’t get a yes immediately… have the resilience to keep pushing and the people who do hear you will help make a difference.”
Is there a young person who inspires you?
“The young person that inspires me the most is myself. I haven’t always felt this way. A few years ago, I felt like I was a complete waste of time and that I wasn’t worthy of doing anything – but P3 has helped me work on this. Everyone has something to offer society. Sometimes, just because you are young, people don’t see this. We haven’t been given time to make a difference yet.”
Why is it so important that we include young people in making decisions about how P3 is run?
“For an organisation, there’s nothing worse than people [who are] responsible for supporting young people having no idea about the problems that affect young people. Not listening will affect the organisation. Being out of touch means young people aren’t getting the support they need. When staff learn about what young people need and what makes their worlds go round, when they are grounded and listen to what young people want, this helps more young people.
A young person may go on to help another young person and then another, and there can be a domino effect starting with the young person who felt listened to in their service. There is no harm in listening to young people – but there are lots of positives.”
What do you wish adults understood about young people and their contributions to society?
“Adults look at young people and say, ‘They haven’t done anything’, but they aren’t giving us a chance to do anything. They gatekeep what we want to do for society. Some young people [might not] do much… but young people are the reason things are happening.
For young people, it’s harder to get jobs, and once you’re in a job, there are assumptions about you, both in the workplace and outside. For example, workplaces assume that young people are partying during annual leave and see that as less valuable than someone who has a family. They see your work as less valuable and your time off work as less valuable. Young people are valued less, no matter how much you do. Over time, we become jaded and become what they see us as, leading to negative reactions and seeming like we don’t care — but they don’t see us offering everything. It leads to things like “Quiet Quitting”.”
At P3 Charity, we know that the people we support are the experts in their own lives. International Youth Day is a reminder that young people deserve to be heard, and we want to listen, learn and empower them to act. Feedback shapes every part of our services: from daily support to big decisions about how we work. Like John says, every voice has value, and when young people speak, we listen.
We’re proud to stand with young people year-round: to listen, to adapt and to empower them to lead the way. Because when young voices are heard, everyone benefits.
*Names changed and stock image used to protect anonymity.
