Too many 11 and 12-year-olds arriving at Glasgow A&Es completely drunk. So Glasgow and Clyde NHS Youth Health Service asked us to co-produce a leaflet to explain the dangers of alcohol to children and teens, in their own language. 

We ran a series of workshops for Young Health Champions from Glasgow’s YoMo Young Movers charity, ranging in age from 12 to 21. 

Our focus was ‘What Do I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Booze?’ – enabling young participants to share true-life stories about themselves, their family and their friends, without breaching confidentiality. 

The story-led approach worked to bring the health messaging home. With our facilitation, young people wrote the content – in language relatable to their peers – and made all the key design decisions. The participants had a brilliant time, and were immensely proud of their achievement. 

The leaflet is very different from conventional NHS health education literature. “A really powerful way of sharing the key health messages” said the Glasgow Youth Health Service.  “This will be a catalyst for change in how we approach harm-reduction messaging.”