Become a Paid Peer Service Designer with Mind Our Future Gwent!

Are you a young person passionate about shaping the future of mental health services in Gwent? Mind Our Future Gwent (MoFG) is recruiting young people aged 16-24 living in Gwent to join us as Peer Service Designers.

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Background information 

Mind our Future Gwent is a National Lottery-funded project led by ProMo Cymru and Mind in Gwent, aiming to empower young people to co-design and develop innovative solutions for improving mental health and resilience across Gwent. 

Young people themselves research existing services, identify gaps and create new approaches to ensure that young people in the region have timely and appropriate mental health support. Ultimately, the project works towards a more mentally healthy future for young people in Gwent. 

In the first year of our project, Mind Our Future Gwent researched young people’s experiences of mental health services in Gwent. 

10 peer researchers from Gwent (Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, Torfaen or Newport) were employed to help speak to their peers, analyse data, pick out key themes, and write a report to share our findings. Our Discovery Report was published in October 2023, and included 7 key insights from which we defined what the key problems were.

In 2024 and early 2025, we developed and tested solutions to address some of the insights and problems that came from our research. 

We’re now looking for young people to join the existing group and help scale up our solutions over the next year, delivering mental health training for young people and professionals as well as spreading awareness about the project across Gwent.

Do you have:

• A passion for driving positive changes in the mental health system
• Strong communication skills, including listening and presenting
• Commitment and willingness to learn new skills
• A can-do attitude and strong reliability
• Links with communities or groups of young people (e.g., sports clubs, LGBTQI+ groups, etc.)
• The willingness to travel across Gwent (although we do most of our work online, some events and trainings will be held in-person) 
• Time to commit 10 hours a month to the project

Your tasks will include:

• Engaging with young people and professionals (including attending events, talking to people, delivering presentations, developing content for the newsletter, etc)
• Developing and delivering training for young people and professionals with the support of fellow Peer Service Designers and staff (mostly in-person)
• Actively participating in team meetings, evaluation sessions, and workshops with your peers, staff team and stakeholders
• Attending yearly youth residentials and in-person meet-ups

What’s in it for you?

• Boost your skills and confidence by sharing your voice and ideas in a safe space 
• Influence positive change in communities across Gwent
• Part-time hours to fit around your existing commitments, with virtual and in-person meetings
• Access to relevant learning opportunities to enhance your skills and CV
• Fun yearly team-building residentials
• Supportive staff who want to see you thrive 
• 10 hours per month paid at the National Living Wage rate (£12.60 per hour) and work-related travel across Gwent reimbursed 
• Access to interesting opportunities such as participating in national or regional advisory groups, getting involved in other youth projects, attending conferences and events, taking part in consultation sessions 

Here’s what one of our Peer Service Designers have to say about their experience: 

“My work with Mind our Future Gwent has had a positive domino effect that has improved my life for the better and by doing so, it has offered me the opportunity to help other young people. After years of social isolation, anxiety, depression and a lack of confidence, MoFG gave me the chance to do something positive not just for myself to grow but also help other young people.”

Key dates for your calendar

• We meet every Wednesday from 4:00pm to 5:30pm (online using Zoom). You would be expected to attend meetings from Wednesday 10 September 2025. 
• Our next annual residential is from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 October 2025 (two nights’ stay near Bridgend)
• Our next stakeholder meeting is on Monday 10 November from 2pm to 6pm (in-person in Newport)

Please make sure that you can commit to these before applying. 

How to apply:

To apply, please complete this form. 

The deadline for applications is Monday 25 August 2025. 

Successful candidates will be invited to informal interviews held on Zoom between Monday 1 and Thursday 4 September 2025. 

If you have any questions or need support with completing the application form, please contact Sarah at sarah@promo.cymru.