Children, Young People & Family/Carer Feedback

Purpose of This Engagement

We are inviting partners across Cheshire & Merseyside to help us share and test our draft one-year Children & Young People’s (CYP) Mental Health Plan (2026/27) with the people it matters to most: children, young people, parents, carers and lived-experience groups.

This is a short, focused plan built on the strong foundations of our 2024–2026 transformation work. It aims to deliver realistic, meaningful improvements over the next 12 months during a time of significant system change and financial pressure. That context makes your support and local insight more important than ever.

Download the plan here 

Why We’re Asking for Your Support

The draft plan has been shaped by what CYP and families have already told us, but we want to go further. We want CYP and carers to have the chance to:

• Tell us what is clear, what feels meaningful and what doesn’t.
• Check whether we are focusing on the right things for the next year.
• Highlight anything that feels unrealistic, missing or not explained well.
• Suggest improvements that would make the biggest difference to their experiences locally.

This one-year refresh is about doing the fundamentals well, protecting the most vulnerable and strengthening a health and care system under real pressure. Honest, grounded feedback will help us prioritise realistically, transparently and in a way that still feels ambitious for CYP.

What We’re Asking You to Do

We are asking each stakeholder organisation, network or partnership group to:

1. Share the draft plan

Please circulate the draft plan widely with your:

• Youth voice groups
• Parent/carer forums
• SEND boards and networks
• Education & college wellbeing groups
• VCSE CYP support services
• Lived experience groups and advisory panels
• Any other CYP engagement channels you lead or support.

2. Facilitate discussion in whatever way works best locally

This can be:

• A quick discussion in an existing group
• A short, focused session (online or in person)
• A simple survey
• A creative approach (e.g. “What matters most to us” posters or postcards)
• A short rating exercise on the four system priorities
• One-to-one conversations with CYP who prefer quieter or supported spaces.

We are deliberately keeping this flexible so you can use methods that suit your CYP and families.

3. Capture feedback and reflections

Please collect responses using whichever format is easiest.

Helpful feedback includes:

• What CYP/families like or think is strongest
• What feels unclear or unrealistic
• Anything missing
• What they think will make the biggest difference in 2026/27
• How well the plan reflects their lived experience
• What they would want us to communicate more simply or honestly.

4. Return all feedback by: 12^th January 2026

Please send all feedback, summaries, notes or creative outputs to

Rachel.smethurst@nhs.net

Key Messages to Share with CYP and Families

When you share the document, please use the following optional messages to set the context:

• “This is a draft one-year plan, not a full strategy. It focuses on what is achievable and realistic in a financially challenging year, while still aiming to improve experiences for CYP.”
• “The system is under pressure, but your voice is crucial in helping us choose the right priorities for the next 12 months.”
• “Your feedback will directly shape the final published plan for the ICB.”
• “We want to know if this plan makes sense to you, feels honest and reflects what matters most.”

What We Will Do With the Feedback

All feedback received will be:

• Collated across all nine Places
• Themed and analysed against the four system priorities
• Reviewed by the C&M CYP Emotional Wellbeing & Mental Health Programme Partnership on 21^st January 2026
• Used to refine the final plan before publication
• Reflected transparently in a short “You Said, We Did” summary for CYP and families.

Thank You

Thank you for your vital role in supporting this engagement.

Your networks and relationships with CYP and families mean the plan will be shaped by real experiences, not assumptions.

In a year where resources are tight and the system is evolving, collaboration is our strongest lever for making improvements that are felt by children, young people and their families across Cheshire & Merseyside.