Changing Your World - the difference it made to me

13 March 2006

Tor Stimpson, 24, a resident at Southampton YMCA attended Y Care International’s ‘Changing Your World – Campaigning and Lobbying Skills for Young People’ course in February 2006. Here, she explains how the course has boosted her skills and confidence to campaign on issues that matter to her.

Before attending the course I was ambivalent about going. I was having a hard time and the last thing I wanted was to be around people I didn’t know, which I find hard at the best of times. On the morning we were due to leave I was on the phone to my crisis team crying because I didn’t want to attend. I wanted to pull out but at the same time I didn’t want to let anyone down. So I pulled myself together and met with the rest of my group, and then we left for London.

Changing perceptions

Since May last year, I’ve been working on a project to increase awareness and reduce the stigma around mental health problems, focusing on young people. My overall aim was to produce a film and activity pack which could then be used in schools and youth projects. Before coming on the ‘Changing Your World’ course I had already achieved a lot, but I was still a long way from the project’s overall aim. Through the course I wanted to increase my knowledge about campaigning and lobbying so I could campaign on mental health issues in an effective way.

Inspired by others

‘Changing Your World’ was run over three days, and was structured in a way that whatever your level of knowledge, you still learnt new things and were able to build on them. We also got the chance to go to Parliament and see how it is all done for real. The best thing about that was meeting Baroness Valerie Amos, Leader of the House of Lords. Hearing how Valerie started out and her previous careers made me realise there are many routes to getting into politics. For her to take time out of her schedule to talk to a group of young people was amazing – not many people would have done that in her position.

Visiting Parliament was not the only positive aspect of ‘Changing Your World’ – the whole course was brilliant. We learnt how to start a campaign, and about the skills, and tools needed to run an effective campaign. We made up mock campaigns or worked on campaigns we were already involved in, and had to give brief presentations on them to the rest of the participants. For me the most important part of the course was the training in how to give an effective presentation. I’d given presentations in the past, but never got any feedback. At ‘Changing Your World’ we were praised on the bits we did well, as well as told how we could improve.

Invaluable experience

The staff that facilitated the course was amazing, and the information they gave was put across in a way that was easy to understand and any jargon they used was explained well. ‘Changing Your World’ has been extremely valuable to me and I believe anyone who has the chance to go on it should. Not only does it give you the information to campaign and lobby effectively, but it helps you build up your confidence and self esteem. I now have the tools and skills to continue and take my project further.

I’m so glad I attended the course and didn’t pull out, because if I had I would never have gained the amount of things I did.