Funded and supported by NHS England, Amplified is a programme to support and build participation in every part of the children and young people’s mental health system. This means both:

• The participation of children, young people and their families in the commissioning, design and delivery of the mental health services they use.
• The participation of children and young people and their families in decisions about their individual mental health and care and treatment

Our goals are to:

1. Build the knowledge, confidence and skills of professionals across the mental health system around participation
2. Increase the participation of young people and their families in the children and young people’s mental health system – at individual, organisational, local and national levels by helping more settings embed participation in what they do. 

We are working with organisations right across the mental health system. CYP-IAPT Learning Collaboratives and Clinical Networks are our main delivery partners. 

We are also directly working with:

• NHS England commissioned community and inpatient child and adolescent mental health services
• Clinical Commissioning Groups

To help develop participation with more vulnerable groups, Amplified is also working with youth justice settings and other targeted groups.

• Young people – join our Young Voices Amplified network and have your say on the future of mental health services in the UK.
• Parents and carers – join our Parents Voices Amplified network and become part of our community of activists helping to amplify parents’ voices when it comes to mental health policy. 
• Professionals – join the Digital Participation Network and share best practices and access support and resources on participation.

NHS England commissioned settings can access free training, support and resources to support the participation of children, young people and their families.  We can offer you and your organisation something wherever you are on your participation journey.

The support will be delivered at three levels:

• Grounding (the basics)
• Building (practical advice)
• Applying - Setting and role specific support aimed at: 
  • Community and inpatient mental health services
  • Clinicians/practitioners
  • Schools and colleges
  • CCGs, local authorities and commissioners
  • Justice settings.

In 2017, we invited young people, parents and carers to tell us about your experiences of and attitudes towards participation in mental health services - the successes, the ambitions, as well as the challenges.

We’re using the results of our Insights Survey to inform the work of #TeamAmplified over the next four years. The survey will be repeated in 2019.

Every year Amplified selects and supports twelve Trailblazers to develop participation in their organisation. We will be recruiting our Year 2 Trailblazers in March 2018, so keep checking back here for more information.

Through our Amplified programme, we’ll be developing online and offline resources to help services and organisations to make sure the voices of children, young people and parents are being heard throughout the mental health system.