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Mindset Revolution for Youth Mental Health – By Bussu et al in ARJ

Sonia Bussu, Katy Rubin, Niamh Carroll and Zarah Eve knew they wanted to work on youth mental health because it has become a global epidemic and there is less and less support available.

They also wanted to bring some playfulness and creativity into participatory spaces. Democracy doesn’t have to be boring: it’s about connection, solidarity and collective action.

Their new ARJ article is on Mindset Revolution, a youth-centred participatory democracy project aims at improving youth mental health services in Greater Manchester. It developed as a response to the tendency for participatory processes to be top-down, technocratic and not very inclusive.  In the “old way” people are often asked to produce a series of recommendations based on an agenda set by organisers, after discussing evidence prepared by academics – most of the time, leading to minimal follow-up or change.

In contrast Bussu and colleagues put together a partnership of academics, practitioners and 23 young people (16-25-years-old). They combined Legislative Theatre, a digital participation process and action research to challenge power dynamics and name structural racism, sexism, ageism, classism, and ableism as forces in institutional practice in the mental health system. Sonia explains:

Sonia Bussu and colleagues opened space to support young people shaping conversation with political decision and policy makers.

Their paper talks about all they did and learnt, while reflecting on the challenges encountered in trying to embed participatory spaces and relational work in neoliberal settings, in academia and policymaking.

Policy impact is complex and nonlinear; academic funding rarely allows for the time to nurture and sustain vital trust-building processes among different partners (including the policymakers!)

You can listen into the conversation between first author Dr. Sonia Bussu and Hilary Bradbury of Action Research that is part of our AE+ Yes/And podcast series. Or read on and access the paper itself…

Sonia writes: “There is a tendency to promote and fund blueprints that can be easily replicated. But democratic change is context-sensitive, long-term and built from the bottom-up.  My team and I used an assemblage perspective to highlight the relational nature of participatory democracy and action research, warning against top-down designs and advocating for context-specific practices to foster sustainable social change. Our project shows the need for flexible, long-term approaches that integrate diverse, intersectional and radically inclusive spaces of participation, where the community can take ownership. Academics and practitioners can be crucial bridges to build and sustain alliances, but real change in youth mental health happens when young people and their communities work together and take charge.”

Links

Bussu, S., Rubin, K., Carroll, N., & Eve, Z. (2025). It’s a Mindset Revolution! Co-creating inclusive spaces of participation on youth mental health. Action Research https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503251320616