The Being Me resources - which you can download below - were developed over five months through workshops and activity sessions with more than 20 Children in Care Council members at Warrington Borough Council and Knowsley Council and with RCPCH &Us, and launched at RCPCH Conference and exhibition in May 2019.
What do children say?
The project started by thinking about the key things needed for children and young people to be emotionally and physically healthy, happy and well. They said...
Doctors need to remember that sometimes children’s hearts are broken
We need to know how to sleep more, how to stay calm, how to eat well and to be more active to stay well
We need someone to talk to about our sad feelings
Emojis are an easy and fun way for us to tell doctors how we are feeling when we can’t fully explain or don’t want to. Children can point to an emoji or draw with their doctor
About the resources
The group shared ideas and views on improving waiting areas, improving the use of technology and creating better online resources.
They then developed the Being Me resources, such as the poster pictured here to help patients talk with their doctors and nurses, and health and wellbeing passports - we have versions for children and young people in care, and for those without care experiences
The Children in Care Council members created these resources to help other children and young people like themselves share their feelings, talk about their experiences and get the best health outcomes possible. They're fully transferable to consider all children and young people with specialist health care experiences.
You can download the resources for free below, or for more details, please contact and_us@rcpch.ac.uk.