What is a South Yorkshire Health Champion?

South Yorkshire Health Champions are a powerful mix of young people representing every corner of our region. The group brings together voices from:

📍 Sheffield
📍 Rotherham
📍 Doncaster
📍 Barnsley

This diverse network ensures that each local area is heard, represented and empowered — creating solutions that truly reflect the realities, cultures and challenges of young people across South Yorkshire.

South Yorkshire Health Champions are trusted community leaders who work alongside Chilypep, the South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Alliance, to revolutionise health and wellbeing services for young people.

They don’t just contribute, they lead, challenge and inspire. They ensure young people’s voices are heard at the highest levels and that services are bold, inclusive and truly reflective of real needs.

Health Champions:

• Shape the future of youth health services
• Influence regional strategies and decision-makers
• Challenge barriers and drive innovation
• Represent authentic youth voice with confidence
• Spark positive change across communities

Your Impact

As a South Yorkshire Health Champion, you will:

🔥 Collaborate with influential partners to design powerful health initiatives🔥 Share vital insight into the realities of your community🔥 Drive conversations that shape policy and practice🔥 Champion awareness campaigns that inspire action🔥 Take part in public communications (in ways that feel right for you)🔥 Represent the voice of young people where it matters most

No experience needed — just passion, authenticity and the courage to make change.

Recent Achievements

Our Health Champions are already reshaping the future of health in South Yorkshire:

🏆 Influenced redesign of  health and mental health services 🏆 Co-created high-impact resources used across the region 🏆 Led bold mental health awareness campaigns🏆 Played key roles in regional healthcare strategy development🏆 Transformed youth and health spaces into safe, supportive environments

This is real change. Real power. Real impact.

Dream Big Summit July 2026

Why Become a South Yorkshire Health Champion?

💥 Develop leadership, confidence and influence 💥 Gain powerful experience for careers and education 💥 Create visible change in your community 💥 Join a respected network of changemakers 💥 Be recognised as a leader in youth health advocacy

So… what’s CHEC?

From 2023-2025 we were part of the South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative, but let’s be real, that’s a bit of a mouthful, so we call it CHEC for short!

The Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative (CHEC), a partnership between Barnardo’s, UCL Institute of Health Equity, and three ICSs (of which South Yorkshire is one), was created to tackle health inequalities by embedding young voices into service design and decision-making.

Through workshops with over 300 young people, CHEC identified key health drivers like community safety and belonging, which shaped the Child Health Equity Framework. This framework now guides data analysis and interventions across regions.

Young people’s participation has been central to CHEC’s success, influencing the creation of Health Equity Champion roles and ensuring their voices continue to shape future work. Their involvement has made the programme more legitimate, inclusive, and impactful. Through this work the Youth Health Champion’s have gone onto drive forward their learning about what is needed to create healthier futures for children and young people.

The South Yorkshire Health Champions will be representing the region at the Children’s Commissioner’s event, Growing up in a low-income family – Children’s ideas for the Child Poverty Strategy, taking place at the House of Commons on 13^th November 2025. The event brings together young people, policymakers, and sector leaders to highlight the experiences of children living in and having experiences of poverty to ensure their voices shape the forthcoming national Child Poverty Strategy.

The SY Health Champions will join some other children and young people from across England to share their perspectives on the daily realities of growing up in low-income families, the impact this has on health, education, and opportunities, and the changes they want to see from government. The afternoon will include opening remarks from the Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, a presentation of findings from the recent report, and a youth-led panel discussion where the Champions will contribute to conversations directly with Parliamentarians and decision-makers.

By taking part, the South Yorkshire Health Champions will not only ensure that the voices of children from our region are heard at the heart of Westminster, but also demonstrate their leadership in shaping policy solutions that tackle inequality and improve the health and wellbeing of young people.

Rotherham Hospital ‘You’re Welcome’ Report – Making Young People feel welcome

April 2026

You can download a PDF of this here: Rotherham You’re welcome Report

Martha’s Rule Pilot

March 2026

This report summarises consultation findings with young people about Martha’s Rule, a new
NHS patient safety policy that allows patients, families, and carers to request an urgent clinical
review if they believe a patient’s condition is getting worse. The creative consultation was co
produced by Chilypep and their Young Health Champions participation group alongside the
Yorkshire and Humber Paediatric Critical Care Operational Delivery Network. The aim of the
consultation was to seek the views of young people to support the creation of a set of agreed
principles around the use of Martha’s Rule.

Chilypep were asked to collate the findings of the consultation in two parts according to age.
This will be responses from 11- to 15-year-olds and the responses from 16–25-year-olds.

Produced in March 2026, please read our final consultation report here:

Final Martha’s Rule report

Kings Fund Event November 2025, SY Champions Isabelle and Angel

SY Champions at the Children’s Commissioner Parliamentary Event, 13 November 2025, alongside Dame Rachel de Souza and young people from across the region, representing youth voice and advocacy at Westminster.

From Local Voices to National Influence: South Yorkshire Health Champions Shape the Future of the Governments Child Poverty Strategy – November 2025

[A partnership with Young People, CHILYPEP and the South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Alliance]

On World Children’s Day  World Children’s Day 2025 we share the journey of the South Yorkshire Health Champions because from the very beginning they have ensured that children and young people’s lived experiences drive decision-making, showing the power of youth voice in shaping a fairer future.

The Story

The South Yorkshire Health Champions began their journey as part of the Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative (CHEC) Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative | Barnardo’s a partnership committed to tackling health inequalities and improving wellbeing for children and young people. From the outset, these champions have been at the heart of shaping local health equity work, ensuring that lived experience drives decision-making.

Their involvement started with community engagement workshops across three Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), where over 300 children and young people shared what truly matters to their health—issues like safety, belonging, and feeling valued. This insight reshaped the Child Health Equity Framework The Child Health Equity Framework for the Drivers of Health Inequalities – IHE , embedding youth voice as a guiding principle rather than an afterthought.

Building on this foundation, the Health Champions launched the Youth Health Champions Manifesto South Yorkshire Health Champions Manifesto at the South Yorkshire ICP Board meeting in June 2025. This bold vision for health and social care gained support from South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and aligned with the region’s Health is Wealth strategy Health is Wealth – How South Yorkshire will become the country’s healthiest region—a ten-year plan to tackle deep-rooted inequalities. 

The Milestone Moment

On 13th November 2025, eight Health Champions took their advocacy to the national stage at the House of Commons, participating in the event “Growing Up in a Low-Income Family – Children’s Ideas for the Child Poverty Strategy.”

Opening remarks came from Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England, underscoring the importance of youth-led insight in shaping policy.

Four champions spoke on stage, sharing powerful lived experiences and recommendations for change. Their voices influenced discussions on the forthcoming Government Child Poverty Strategy, spotlighting the link between poverty, health, and opportunity.

Quinn, Cohen, Haz, and Molly’s insights brought urgency and reality to the statistics, putting the human story at the heart of policy discussions. They were supported by Clara, Nathaniel, Darcie, and Phinn, who played an instrumental role in shaping the information shared on the day.

The South Yorkshire Health Champions are not just participants, they are leaders, shaping health equity and policy at every level.

Their journey reflects the power of collaboration between ICBs, VCSE partners, and young people. None of this work would have been possible without the collaboration with CHILYPEP Children and Young People’s Empowerment Project – Chilypep and the amazing youth workers who work alongside young people,  giving them a voice confidence, influence with a platform to shape their world and stay connected.

Tackling child poverty is the foundation to improving health outcomes and creating equal opportunities for all children.

‘I am writing to thank you for bringing children to the event held by the Children’s Commissioner in Parliament on 13 November. The children and young people were incredible, and each brought such insight, honesty and confidence to the room. We are so grateful to those who spoke, as well as to everyone who attended and supported the day.

Thank you also for filling out the cards we left out – we have shared these with local MPs so that the young people’s voices and experiences are heard directly. We are equally grateful for the reflections children and young people shared with Ministers, MPs and sector leaders during the event.

I am sure you will have seen that the Government have announced the removal of the two-child benefit cap. This change will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. It is something we have long been calling for, and we very much hope that the forthcoming child poverty strategy matches the boldness and ambition of this announcement.’

Hannah Still, Children’s Commissioner’s office

For a greater insight into the difference these young people are making, please take the time to listen to Cohen’s Story

Created in August 2025:

https://youtu.be/b51zBMOnAp0.

Click below to download the manifesto written by young people!

South Yorkshire Health Champions Manifesto

Click below to download our first South Yorkshire Health Champion Newsletter – October 2025!

SY CYP Alliance Newsletter Oct 25

International Youth Day – 15th August 2025

Young people across South Yorkshire have been making their voices heard and shaping real change. Through the Youth Work Unit (YWU) and SYMCA, our South Yorkshire Health Champions have joined other young people in meetings on transport, nature recovery, housing, and homelessness – ensuring their views help influence local policies.

As part of International Youth Day, SYMCA has shared a film created with some of our Health Champions, capturing youth voice and engagement and celebrating the impact of young people in our region. Many of the points raised closely align with the South Yorkshire Health Champions’ Manifesto, highlighting shared priorities around health, wellbeing, safe transport, housing, and opportunities for young people.

Click to watch here: International Youth Day

SY NHS ICP Board Meeting at Chilypep – 21st August 2025

Big News from South Yorkshire’s Youth Health Champions! 

Over the past two years, a passionate crew of young people across South Yorkshire have been working hard to make sure children and young people’s health is actually taken seriously. And guess what? It’s paying off.

At the ICP board meeting with the SY Mayor, we took things to the next level, presenting our work directly to the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) Board (yes, the big decision-makers!). And it was a huge moment for youth voice in our region.

Our mission is simple:

Tackle health inequalities

Boost well-being

Make sure every young person grows up healthy, happy, and HEARD.

We’ve been turning up the volume on youth voice — and it’s working. People are listening. Decisions are changing. And real action is happening.

What we’ve been up to…

Influencing Policy

We’ve had our say on the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, and we’ve been right there supporting the South Yorkshire CYP Alliance to set the health priorities that really matter to young people.

Collaboration Is Key

We’ve helped bring together the NHS, local councils, schools, and community organisations, showing that when young people lead, BIG things happen.

What happened at the meeting?

At the meeting hosted by Chilypep, we proudly launched our very own Youth Health Champions Manifesto… Check it out on this page above.

It’s packed with the ideas, priorities, and bold visions young people want to see become reality. And trust us, we’re just getting started.

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard was there too, and he backed it all by launching the powerful new Health is Wealth report. This ten-year plan sets out how we can make South Yorkshire the healthiest region in the country, tackling deep-rooted inequalities that go way beyond the NHS, like housing, education, jobs, mental health, and more. Health Is Wealth In South Yorkshire

As the Mayor said: “Health isn’t just something you get at a hospital – it’s built in our homes, our schools, our streets, and our communities.”

What’s next?

We’re not stopping here. We’re sharing what we’ve learned, updating leaders on what’s working, and putting forward bold new ideas to shape a fairer, healthier South Yorkshire — with young people at the heart of it all.

Children and young people offer vital insights from their lived experiences, making health services more effective, inclusive, and equitable when they are actively involved. Their engagement builds trust, improves outcomes, and ensures services reflect real needs.

New Charter urges action to get beyond assumptions and address young adults’ distinctive digital health needs – September 2025

A new Digital Health Charter, developed with 18-25 year olds living with long-term health conditions, is calling for researchers, health and care services, policymakers and digital technology companies to move beyond assumptions and involve young adults in digital health innovations that meet their distinctive needs.

There are 6 million young adults in England and Wales. Around 1 in 5 lives with a long-term health condition. Yet they are often under-represented in health research despite evidence suggesting worse healthcare experiences than other groups.

The Young Adults’ Digital Health Charter, released today, is the result of a collaboration between the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub, young adults from across the South Yorkshire region, the Association for Young Peoples Health (AYPH), Chilypep, and Hopkins Van Mil.

The Charter’s 10 principles highlight key concerns and opportunities for digital health innovation. These include the need for affordable digital health, the importance of national digital health system interconnectivity as young adults relocate to seek new educational and economic opportunities, and the value of supportive healthcare professionals trained in digital health offering integrated in-person and digital health services.

Participants emphasised the need to go beyond assumptions about young adults as ‘digital natives’ and support them to find and use trustworthy digital health tools and information.

A young adult participant said: “Digital health is SO important and often ignored or forgotten about. With this Charter our voices as young adults were heard and used to help create it. It spreads light on important topics and I’m happy to be a part of it. Young adults’ voices are being listened to.”

The Charter’s 10 Principles for Digital Innovation:

1. Recognise us as a distinct group with unique and changing digital health needs

2. Support us as digital learners, not ‘digital natives’

3. Ensure digital health tracking supports us as we develop as young adults

4. Enable digital health support to move with us

5. Ensure affordability of digital health for young adults

6. Integrate digital health consistently and appropriately with in- person services

7. Support and train healthcare professionals to use digital health tools with us

8.  Help us to navigate trustworthy digital health sources

9. Improve transparency and trust in who is involved in digital health companies

10. Explain what’s happening with our Digital Health data in ways that we’ll actually engage with

Download the Charter summary

Download the Charter in full

Professor George Peat said: “As the NHS 10 Year Plan embraces an increased focus on digital health tools, it’s vital we develop a better understanding of what different people and communities need from digital health technologies.  If we don’t, we risk perpetuating or even worsening existing health inequalities. The Young Adults’ Digital Health Charter is important, highlighting some of the unique needs during this important phase of life and encouraging early, meaningful, and sustained involvement of young adults.”

This video offers key findings from the Young Adults’ Digital Health Charter: 10 Principles for Digital Health Innovation. The animated video summarising the Charter is now available on the Hub’s YouTube channel, here.

South Yorkshire Health Champions are at the forefront of shaping more responsive and inclusive services across South Yorkshire – May-August 2025

They played a pivotal role in the consultation and launch of the South Yorkshire Text Crisis  service and development of the Keyword Text EYUP, helping to design a support offer that meets people where they are, accessible, confidential, and relevant in moments of crisis. Their input directly influenced how the service is communicated and delivered, ensuring it reflects the realities of youth mental health.

They have also been actively involved in reviewing the South Yorkshire Neurodiversity Principles for the NHS ICB, and SY NHS transitions services using their lived experience to challenge assumptions, improve understanding, and push for more inclusive practice. Their contributions are helping professionals and systems better support neurodivergent young people with empathy, flexibility, and respect.

“Dear Chilypep and SY Health Champions,

I wanted to write to you to thank you for your help and support with establishing a Crisis Text Line service for the residents of South Yorkshire. As you will hopefully be aware the ICB is now working in partnership with Shout to help people access a free, confidential, 24/7 text messaging support, provided by qualified mental health professionals.

They can do this by Texting ‘EYUP’ to 85258. I hope you recognise this as one of the keyword suggestions that you put forward, which I totally love by the way! We launched the service on 27 May, and it has been really positively received. I have received lots of emails saying how helpful this will be, here is an example of one of the comments:

“I’ve just seen a Facebook post re SYICB’s new funding of the Shout 24/7 text mental health crisis line. If you’ve had a part in this, can I thank you on behalf of those amazing autistic young adults who I had chance to meet and work with, who will now have a way to ask for help. Brilliant news!”

I’ve also seen lots of social media posts helping to promote the service, again with positive comments. 

The information collated from your workshops and presented to me in a report was really helpful and I shared this with colleagues and Shout so that we could ensure that the things that were important to you were included. I hope that we have done this.

Finally, thanks again for your input into getting the crisis text line service live. I know it will have a positive impact and help support people when they need it the most and you helped make it happen! Kind regards.”

Debra Cummins Programme Manager – Mental Health

Young People Leading the Way in Healthcare Transitions

South Yorkshire Health Champion, young people are helping shape how healthcare services support the move from children’s to adult care. Their insights are ensuring that transition experiences are smoother, more supportive, and truly centred on their needs.

Voices That Matter

Young champions have shared what works, what doesn’t, and what makes a difference. They emphasise the importance of:

• Early, honest conversations from ages 13–14,

• Structured transition experiences, like dedicated Transition Days at ages 14 and 17,

• Individualised support for those without family networks, including advocacy and peer guidance,

• Accessible resources in multiple formats, including digital, paper, Braille, translations, and BSL,

• Youth-friendly environments with flexible appointments and welcoming spaces.

“At 19, it was still hard for me to speak for myself depending on my mental health, even when I was seeking support for a physical health condition.”

“There needs to be more awareness that on the days I don’t properly care for my physical health condition, it’s often emotionally driven underneath.”

Shaping the Future

Through workshops, discussions, and creative exercises, young people have directly influenced Module 3 of South Yorkshire Wide NHS Staff training, helping healthcare professionals understand what truly matters during transitions. Their input is creating a culture where mental and physical health are treated equally, young people’s voices are prioritised, and families are supported in a way that works for everyone.

We celebrate these young people leading change and invite everyone to work alongside them to make healthcare transitions positive, empowering, and youth-focused.

“I just wanted to say a huge thankyou for welcoming me to your group last week and sharing your experiences with me.  You had so much to say and had so many brilliant suggestions that we can now work with to help improve our services for young people.  I am very grateful for your honesty, and bravery too, in sharing your personal experiences. This really brought home to me how important it is for us to get this right.

Chan has shared a write up of all your ideas and I am going to review this with our team. We will add these into the training package for healthcare professionals.  The work that you did will be used to guide our staff on how they can better support young people.  I look forward to receiving the final vision of the ‘ideal transition healthcare professional’ and the digital version of illustration that you co-designed. I am hoping that the digital team working on the training can use this in the package!

I would really love to come back to see you and show you the package once it is developed – so that you can see the difference you have all made. “

Jaimie Shepherd, Clinical Strategy Senior Programme Manager

Meet Jen, the Ideal Transitions Healthcare worker, created by Young people

Reflecting on an Incredible Day: The June 2025 CYP Alliance Conference

On Thursday 12 June 2025, the Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster became the beating heart of collaboration, inspiration, and action as over 150 delegates gathered for the fourth annual South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Alliance Conference.

Under the theme “One big coming together and thank you,” this year’s event celebrated the power of youth voice, partnership, and shared vision in shaping a brighter future.

From the opening sing along to ‘Come on Eileen’ and ‘Walking on Sunshine’ led by the talented Latifah Makuyi, to the heartfelt closing reflections, the day was a vibrant showcase of what can be achieved when communities come together around children and young people.

Keynote speeches from influential figures such as Nigel Harrison (Yorkshire Sport Foundation) and Beth Stout (Golddigger Trust) challenged and inspired, while local NHS leaders like Ruth Brown and Cathy Winfield provided a powerful vision for collective change across South Yorkshire.

Saying “Thank You”

Attendeess were also able to hear from a range of other children and young people, senior leaders across South Yorkshire and a few celebrities who all wanted to say thank you, for all the work done across services, teams and organisations to make a difference and you can enjoy  a few of these here;