A film about the impact of social media on young people’s mental health made by a group of young people in Barnet has won an award.

Barnet Young Voices won the Group of the Year Award from YPii DMH (Young People’s Involvement in Digital Mental Health), a research group based at Nottingham University – and it was presented at a virtual awards ceremony on July 22nd.

The film, Generation Verified, was coproduced with local charity, Youth Realties, and commissioned by Barnet Public Health’s Resilient Schools Programme.

Dr Aislinn Bergin, research fellow at Nottingham University and part of the group that made the award said: “We were delighted to present Barnet Young Voices as joint winners of the 2022 YPii Involvement Team/Group of the Year Award. We really wanted to recognise the clearly impressive dedication of the Barnet Young Voices group, particularly as they were not already an established involvement group.”

Celebrating the success, Barnet’s public health manager, Tamara Djuretic, said: “We recognise that the challenges this generation face are unique – the challenges of social media, digital world pressure, and fear of missing out. Generation Verified addresses these challenges and showcases the creative skills of young people and the power of co-production. I would like to congratulate our young residents on this well-deserved win.”

Resilient Schools Manager, Jayne Abbott added : “I wanted to showcase what young people experience online in a way that was meaningful and had the lived experience at the heart of it. This film reinforces that co-production and ensuring that young people’s voices are heard is central to all we do in supporting our youth.”

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