We would like to invite you to join us as part of the team of "policy-makers" for the Optimistic Minds Legislative Theatre project on Thursday, 15th September, 4.30 - 7.30pm at Manchester Metropolitan University.
For this event, "policy-maker" means someone who has influence on, and/or expertise around, policy and practice relating to mental health services and service providers for young people, who can help the cast members in the performance and people in the audience develop their policy ideas and move them forward. Part of the goal is civic education, and the participants will get an understanding of the different avenues for change through your response at the event.
This is what the event will probably look like:
4.30 - 5.15pm: Everyone will watch an original play based on the actors’ lived experiences interacting with mental health services for young people. Many of these issues relate to access, quality and timeliness of response to mental health issues / crises, wait times, police response to mental health crises, support networks for young people, and interactions with primary healthcare providers e.g. GPs.
5.15 - 5:45pm: Audience will be invited to act on stage to brainstorm alternatives to the problems presented. (No pressure on this policy team to get up and try an idea, unless you want to! This is open to the full audience.)
5.45 - 5.50pm: Everyone will be invited to draft policy ideas inspired by the improvisations, the dialogue, and the play. These may be around policy, or changes in practice / implementation. They will write on handouts, and we will collect them for sorting. The handouts have categories at the top (GPs, Police, Wait Times, Services etc.) to make sorting easier.
5.50 - 6.05pm: This is where you all will begin working together and engaging with the participants.
Short tea-break for the audience while you work with the rest of the policy team to sort these ideas (I anticipate about 25 total) into a few themes, landing on 3-4 proposals. The criteria for sorting include: popular, practical, innovative, responsive to the problems, etc. You can join a few popular ideas together, and you can absolutely refer to what's currently on the table at Council / your organisation to inform the sorting.
I will be there helping you through this! This is quick so it's not a precise science, but we're aiming for transparency. Even if some ideas don't make it to the final debate, they can still be reviewed and taken up later.
6.05 - 6.45pm: At this point, the policy team will engage with audience members to discuss proposals based on the collected ideas. We'll identify some questions or issues that need further investigation, and ask what it would take to make these a reality.
6.45 - 7.15pm: Finally, all participants will vote on their top priorities, leading to commitments of action on each idea. That doesn't mean that each idea will necessarily be implemented, only that there's a next step, for investigation, etc.
7.15 - 7.30pm: Wrap up.
To summarise:
Participation includes contributing to the discussion about potential policy ideas suggested by the community audience, and bringing those ideas back to your office / organisation / institution in the weeks following the event for more investigation. We will not ask you to make any commitments on the day about what can or cannot be implemented!
On 20th September, we hope the policy team and youth actors will be able to gather in a Zoom / in-person meeting to continue debating and refining the proposals. This will be an opportunity to share findings about the policy proposals and commit to further action; we hope you can attend that session as well.
If you’d like to find out more, I can brief you on a short call; just drop me a note if so. Many thanks again.
Best,
Katy, 42nd Street, Youth Focus Northwest, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the actors
