World Mental Health Day: Every Voice Matters

World Mental Health Day: Every Voice Matters

World Mental Health Day takes place today and this year’s theme, “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change,” highlights the importance of listening to people with direct experience of mental health challenges and ensuring their voices help shape support and services.

For children and young people in care, this message is particularly important. Many have experienced trauma, loss, separation, instability, neglect or abuse before entering care. These experiences can have a lasting impact on emotional wellbeing, making it vital that children feel listened to, understood and supported.

The theme encourages professionals, services and policymakers to take the views of children in care seriously. It also recognises the valuable insights of care-experienced adults and foster carers, whose experiences can help improve support and outcomes for future generations.

Most importantly, the theme is about moving beyond consultation and into action. Listening is only the first step. Real change happens when the experiences of children in care, care-experienced adults and foster carers influence decisions, services and policies that affect their lives. By creating opportunities for these voices to be heard, we can build a more responsive and compassionate support system for children and young people in care.

At Beacon Fostering, listening to children and young people is at the heart of what we do. We regularly seek feedback through surveys and participation activities, helping young people influence the support they receive. We also offer specialist ARC (Attachment, Regulation and Competency) sessions with a trained practitioner, supporting children to build emotional resilience, strengthen relationships and manage the impact of trauma.

We also recognise that foster carers need support too. Beacon Fostering provides one-to-one therapeutic support for carers in partnership with Meadows Psychology Service,  helping them maintain their own wellbeing, build resilience and continue providing the best possible care for the children and young people they look after.