Introducing our youth involvement team

We set up our youth involvement team with the aim of reaching young people through a relatable young voice. Our youth involvement speakers - still young themselves! - know how to connect with this generation and those responsible for them. They have their own lived experience of mental health issues and can talk to students and other young people about a wide range of current issues, including:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Self-harm
• Social media
• Drugs and alcohol
• Crime
• Many other topics

I genuinely think this is one of the best mental health sessions I've ever been a part of, and as safeguarding manager in my previous role, I've sat through a fair few! It's refreshing!

Alice Palmer

Meet the team, Alice, Haleem and Michael

Alice Palmer is Charlie Waller's Youth Involvement Lead, having been a young adviser for the Trust 10 years ago, she now gives talks to young people in schools, colleges, workplaces and universities. 

Alice delivers bespoke sessions on talks based on her lived experience as a young person, and combines this with practical ways to help those who are struggling.

Having trained as an actor, Alice also uses the arts to improve mental health and wellbeing. She is a workshop facilitator for Making Generation Resilience, a campaign designed to inspire resilience amongst young people through the power of storytelling from people who have experienced extreme adversity.

In the past, Alice has worked in settings ranging from refugee camps in France to urban schools in Malawi and homeless shelters in South London, using the arts to assist with wellbeing and self expression.

She understood how everything worked; was relatable, informative and comfortable to speak about uncomfortable matters.

Mental health wasn't a phrase Haleem Clift knew much about. He certainly didn't know that's what he was struggling with. Drugs, alcohol, crime, disordered eating and unhealthy relationships were just some of the outlets he found to cope.

Today, however, Haleem's life is very different. He is committed to using his lived experience to improve the lives of other young people. 

He is a speaker for the Trust and delivers talks to young people and staff in schools, colleges, universities and workplaces. 

Haleem also makes films about mental health and addiction, works as an actor and voiceover artist and supports the delivery of intensive group therapy.

An absolute pleasure to meet Haleem and hear him speak. I spend time with some students after the talk and they were overwhelmingly positive about it.

Michael Priestley is a PhD student at Durham University studying how higher education policies and practices impact on student mental health and wellbeing.

As our Student Involvement Coordinator Michael works closely alongside Alice to guide the ambassadors in their roles and oversee their work with the charity.

He has also played a key role in many other Charlie Waller Projects, including masterminding our toolkit, How to CREATE a student mental health policy.

Michael Priestley

We're growing!

We're excited to be expanding our youth involvement team with eight new ambassadors. We look forward to introducing them soon.

How we can help

Our youth involvement speakers are available to speak to students, staff, parents and carers in your school, college, university or workplace, both in person and virtually.

To enquire about booking one of our speakers please contact us.