Showcasing Welsh Youth Work in Strasbourg

Good practice from Wales showcased at a young people’s mental health and well-being seminar in Strasbourg

ProMo Cymru was invited by the Council of Europe Youth Partnership to attend the Seminar on Youth Mental Health & Well-being in Strasbourg, France from 18 to 19 March 2025. 

Mental Health and Youth Work

The seminar brought together young people, youth workers, researchers, and policymakers from across Europe to find solutions to the growing mental health challenges faced by young people. The two day conference featured discussions, workshops and expert panels aimed at making mental health and well-being a priority in youth policy and practice.

Opening the seminar, Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, emphasised the crucial role of youth work in fostering mental resilience, “Youth work can help young people adopt healthy patterns, become part of social, cultural, and civic engagements, develop coping, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills, and learn to manage emotions.”

As the only delegate representing Wales, Cindy Chen, Head of Communications & Engagement, facilitated a 45-minute parallel session at the seminar to showcase ProMo’s expertise at effectively engaging with young people and amplifying their voice to deliver personal, systems, and culture change.

Presenting Mind Our Future Gwent

Cindy used Mind Our Future Gwent (MoFG), a five-year project funded by the National Lottery, as a case study to explain how we co-design services with young people.  MoFG aims to design innovative solutions to prevent mental health challenges from arising or worsening across Gwent, Wales, by following a Service Design approach. This process guides us to create solutions which address the real needs of the users and root causes of issues. 

Cindy, who project manages Mind Our Future Gwent, spoke to European colleagues about ProMo Cymru’s co-production approach to ensure young people are not just recipients of mental health services, but active architects of their own support systems. She explained that at the heart of MoFG is meaningful co-production, “We employ 11 young people as Peer Service Designers and support them using the 5 pillars of youth work, to shape solutions which will bring lasting impact.”

Now in its third year, the key priorities for Mind our Future Gwent are: 

• Growing our social media channel and creating campaigns so we can combat stigmatism, promote support services in Gwent and provide useful information for young people seeking help
• Equipping our team of Peer Service Designers with the skills and confidence to deliver our two free mental health learning offers to professionals and young people across Gwent
• Building key relationships with professionals and stakeholders to influence change, shape decisions and respond to strategic developments (e.g. Welsh Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2025 – 2035)

Cindy closed her session by encouraging colleagues to consider how they might better embed the co-production approach in their work when delivering support for young people. 

ProMo Cymru are passionate about making a difference to the day-to-day lives of children and young people now, and future generations. 

If you’d like to know how we can help you do this, talk to us: cindy@promo.cymru