We’re twelve months into our three year Children in Need Funded project in collaboration with youth organisations across the UK. Read on to find out what we’ve been up to on our recent trip to Bristol and see where the next twelve months will take us!

Summer 2026 saw us partner with two Bristol based youth organisations: Creative Youth Network and Bristol City Youth Council. We delivered three separate workshops introducing young people to our approach to lived experience storytelling and creatively exploring social action topics such as access to education, mental health support and nighttime safety.

Creative Youth Network is a charity working across Bristol and South Gloucestershire, helping around 2,500 young people a year.  No matter what their background or circumstances, they support young people to reach their potential and live fulfilling lives. You can find out more on their website here.

Bristol City Youth Council advocates for the issues that matter most to young people and the main aim is to represent the voices of young people in Bristol. You can find out more on their web page here.

Young people first learnt about the value of stories and how they exist in many forms across culture and time. We then talked about the importance of representing ourselves and our own experience as opposed to our stories being constructed and told by someone else. The groups then created collages, written word pieces, sculptures and mind maps in response to the prompt:

Tell a story about something that is important to you. Chose a topic you’re interested in and tell us why you care about making a difference.

Themes that emerged from the creative reflections included young neurodivergent people’s experiences of education in Bristol, connecting young migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Bristol, platforming young artists in Bristol, young disabled people’s experiences living in Bristol and the discrepancies in support offered to civilians impacted by war and conflict.

Young people took these themes and created their own exploratory questions which will be used as discussion prompts for story gathering and interviews as the project moves forward. During the workshops the groups were able to develop their interview skills and build an awareness of safe practice, contributing their own ideas to a shared best practice guide.

Both groups are now in the stages of gathering stories in the form of recorded content and interviews using the questions they created. Once they have collected a set of findings we will work together to review the footage and pull out the key learning points from what they have uncovered.

The final stage of the training is to support young people to develop social action projects based on footage they capture – so keep your eyes peeled for more updates over the next few months to see what comes out of that work.

If you’d like to know more about this project then please reach out to Lauren@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk and Georgia@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk to find out more.

2025 saw the launch of a new 3 year Children in Need funded project, which will give young people the skills to use lived experience storytelling as a tool for social change.

Since launching Future Changemakers, we have partnered with youth organisations in the West Midlands and Greater Manchester to deliver Community Reporter Training and Train the Trainer workshops to young people, staff and volunteers. The groups have developed tools to tell their own stories and that of their peers and shape these into ideas for social action.

Last week concluded a series of sessions that up-skilled volunteers from Army of Kindness in facilitation techniques relating to Community Reporting. Staff and volunteers are now equipped to deliver the Community Reporter training they took part in last year. We can’t wait to see how they embed this approach to storytelling in their work.

Army of Kindness alongside West Midlands Police Cadets are the first organisations to form the foundation of the growing Future Changemakers Community Reporter Network. As we move into the 2nd year of the project we will be partnering with more youth organisations starting with Bristol and Liverpool and hope to broaden our reach and connect with more people.

If you’d like to know more about this work please reach out to Lauren@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk and Georgia@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk to find out more.

Over the past year, People’s Voice Media have worked with Thera Scotland to gather lived-experience stories reflecting on the importance of accountability in adult social care in Scotland.

Members, volunteers and caregivers from Thera spoke with friends and family about their experiences and what improvements could be made to the system.

These conversations were curated into a video and shared at a conversation of change event on the 29th of June 2026 to raise awareness and support advocacy and service improvement.

We will be sharing the film publicly over the next couple of weeks so watch this space!

In Doncaster, we have been working with the Council and representatives from community interest companies to deliver Community Reporter training and gather stories themed on people’s experiences of cancer. The goal is to use what people have shared in these stories to make improvements to how people impacted by cancer are cared for.

The training was delivered in the form of in-person workshops and people learned Community Reporter Skills including:

• Storytelling Techniques: The different ways we can support people to tell their lived experience stories
• Responsible Practice: How to look after ourselves and others whilst gathering and sharing stories
• Digital Skills: How technology can be used to record and share lived experience stories
• Sense Making: The value of lived experience stories and how they can be used to create change

So far Community Reporters have collected 21 lived experience stories in the form of photographs, written pieces of text, video interviews, monologues and audio recordings. From first-hand accounts, to stories of people caring for friends, family and loved ones facing cancer, the 2 hours of footage explores screening, diagnosis, referrals, treatment, recovery, living life with cancer and more.

We are creating a short film, using clips from each of the stories, which will be screened at the Conversation of Change event that is set to take place in the coming months. The event will be a chance for people to watch the film, hear insights from the stories and discuss what’s working well and what needs to change when it comes to providing care for people impacted by cancer in Doncaster. The plan is to invite decision makers and people who can influence change to hear the stories and discuss how best they can support progress in cancer care.

Key themes that have emerged from the stories so far and will be explored during the COC include the following:

• Early Intervention
• Communication between professionals
• Health advocacy
• The human experience

If you’re interested in knowing more about the Conversation of Change event, please get in touch for more info: georgia@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk

If you’d like to hear the stories in full, head over to the Community Reporter website by following the link: Well Doncaster | Community Reporter Network

If you or someone you know has been impacted by cancer, and you are looking for support – here as some organisations that could help:

• Firefly: Charity offering free transport to local cancer patients and their families in the borough of Doncaster to regional treatment hospitals.
• Cancer Support UK: Information about useful and relevant charities/bodies who offer help and support to people affected by a cancer diagnosis.
• Macmillan: Find out how Macmillan can support you and get information about different cancer types.

A huge thank you goes out to the Community Reporters and storytellers who have gathered and shared their stories with us as part of this project.

Back in Summer of 2024, People’s Voice Media launched a project in Liverpool alongside The Bronte Youth & Community Centre. Young people came forward to share their stories and experiences with The Bronte, and contribute ideas for the future of the centre which is currently undergoing renovation work.

Since then, young people have developed skills in Community Reporting and have interviewed staff, peers and members of the community to gather their hopes for the future of the centre as well. These ideas will feed into the work that shapes the future of the building and help create a hub for the local community in Liverpool.

We have compiled the footage collected by the young people into a written insight report, which you can access via the link below. From young people’s vision for it’s the future, to it’s inter-generational impact & legacy, it’s clear that The Bronte has played a significant role in many people’s lives. Take a look and see what people had to say:

You can also view some of the stories recorded as part of the project over on the Community Reporter website here.

The future looks exciting for The Bronte, as young people and staff are currently working on a podcast series with Fact cinema in Liverpool, putting their Community Reporting skills into practice. Head over to the Bronte Youth and Community Centre website to hear more about their work & receive updates on the renovation plans.