The Connexions Surrey Youth Forum

“We’re a group of about 30 young people from all across Surrey. Most of us volunteered through our schools originally, and although most of us are between 15 and 18 there are some younger and older members. We feel it is important to take everyone’s views into account, and our Forum includes young people from ethnic minorities, from the travelling community and young people with special needs. We also make links with other groups like teenage mums as we know they have very different lives from most young people and we want to make sure that Connexions is there for them too.

Why do we like Connexions? Because it’s there to provide all the information, advice and guidance we need to get the most out of our lives, and we can get it all from one place. Before Connexions came along you’d have to see one person about making your career choices, a different one if you were worried about your health, and someone else if it was housing or transport or anything else – and most of them would be people you didn’t know hiding away in an office somewhere.
Now we can see our Personal Adviser and ask them about anything, and with this website and free-phone service as well, the Connexions service is there for young people even if you suddenly need to ask a question at 11:30 at night!

Why are we involved in the Youth Forum? Because it’s important that Connexions represents the real views of young people and we’re here to make sure the adults do it right for us. After all, no adult is going to know as much about what will appeal to a young person as we do!

We make sure all of the leaflets and posters appeal to young people. We attend the Connexions management meetings, and the adults always take our views into account. We review all the new projects in Surrey to help Connexions to create a service that really does meet the needs of young people who live here.
It’s really exciting for us to be involved in Connexions Surrey and to be given the respect and responsibility to help achieve everything we’ve done so far.”

If you are interested in finding out more about getting involved in the Connexions Surrey Youth Forum, send an email to our Involving Young People team.