Youth Justice Voices North East (YJVNE) members were invited to attend and input at a Safer Horizons event in Aberdeen in November. This invite came after members presented at our 6-year celebration event back in August.

After seeing the positive work of YJVNE, Police Scotland invited the group to the Safer Horizons event, and to lead a workshop around the topic of inclusion and some solutions to the issues young people in Aberdeen have raised.

This was a great opportunity for the group to show the work and impact of YJV, network with different organisations, and learn about other projects in Aberdeen.

One of the members of Youth Justice Voices, Renee, reflected:

“It felt empowering to be asked to attend and present at the event and to be recognised by Police Scotland! I had lost a bit of confidence this year but wanted to regain my confidence public speaking by speaking about our work and facilitated some activities.

“The event was educational, a lot of good content and I hope people who attended learned something from us and we represented something more positive than just being justice experienced.

“It is important for young people with lived experience to attend events like this because it keeps us up to date with different things happening that we might not be aware of, it helps us voice and manage our own goals and aspirations in Aberdeen and make meaningful connections with people that can make changes for young people.”

Another member of YJVNE, Shandy, reflected on the importance of having lived experience at the centre of decision-making for young people in Aberdeen.

“It’s important to support the up and coming, invest in young people, they are the future.”

Shandy spoke about his experience of being involved in Inside Out, our participation group based in Polmont HMP&YOI, and some of the work, challenges and impact of Inside Out. He introduced the Alright? animation, which he was part of creating alongside Clan Childlaw and Braw Talent. Shandy also reflected on his journey of joining Youth Justice Voices North East after liberation and staying involved in participation work, emphasising the importance of good support, better opportunities and investment in young people with care and justice experience across Scotland.

We would like to thank Police Scotland for inviting YJVNE to input at this event, and for putting young people with lived experience of the care and justice systems, their concerns and ideas, at the heart of the day. It was a great day with a lot of positives to take away.

Lastly, a huge thank you to Renee, Marci, Shandy and Tiffy for planning the content and doing such an amazing job representing YJV with honesty, reflection and humour.

If you would like to find out more or are interested in working with or joining a YJV steering group, please contact [email protected].