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Our impact
Every year 140,000 people die from injuries and sudden illnesses who could have had a chance of survival if they had experienced immediate and effective first aid – but there aren’t many options to learn combined mental and physical health first aid. Training often involves long-term commitment that makes it difficult for those who have multiple responsibilities to access it, and the content doesn’t reflect young people’s everyday circumstances. St John Ambulance wanted to create a programme designed to reach cohorts of young people aged 14 to 25 including care leavers, young carers, those not in employment, education or training and those concerned about street violence.
The course was piloted and launched across multiple regions in England thanks to the generous support of People’s Postcode Lottery with the aim of reaching 28,500 young people by the end of 2022.
"Having expertise from Innovation Unit helped to ease that change and gave us conviction … The model we have now is very different to one we would have come up with ourselves, and we have a high degree of confidence that it is sustainable and effective."Dr Rachael Parkes, Young Responder Programme Project Manager, St John Ambulance
The approach
Young Responders was developed in partnership with its target audience over three stages:
Participatory research
10 young people were recruited to shape the research, take the lead in interviews, and analyse the data.
10 young people were recruited to shape the research, take the lead in interviews, and analyse the data.
Co-design
Over a week, we ran creative workshops along with 20 young people to develop the programme’s concepts. St John Ambulance staff acted as ‘sponsors’ to ensure the ideas were viable for the organisation.
Over a week, we ran creative workshops along with 20 young people to develop the programme’s concepts. St John Ambulance staff acted as ‘sponsors’ to ensure the ideas were viable for the organisation.
Prototyping before piloting
Elements of the programme were tested with potential Young Responders and practitioners familiar with working with the target audience to steer the creation of a fully specified service for piloting.
Elements of the programme were tested with potential Young Responders and practitioners familiar with working with the target audience to steer the creation of a fully specified service for piloting.
The process included design principles to underpin the Young Responders programme, helping to set priorities and guide good decisions.
Read more about St John Ambulance’s experiences of co-design with young people
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