Young health champions

The young health champion (YHC) role is for our Year 10 students and aims to give them the skills, knowledge and confidence to act as peer trainers.

YHCs are trained in how to increase awareness of healthy lifestyles and encourage involvement in activities to promote good health across community and educational settings.

At the end of year 8, students are asked to apply and, if their application is successful, they begin with training at the start of year 9.

The role of the young health champion

Young health champions’ responsibilities vary greatly, depending on where they’re based. For example:

• in school settings they deliver workshops and campaigns to their peers

• in sports clubs, organisations may use the programme to increase their volunteers’ knowledge and skills but not directly deliver campaigns

• other young volunteering projects have used the qualification to supplement existing training, improve health communication skills and enable their young volunteers to take an accredited step towards a career in health and social care

Real-life stories

Read the experiences of two young health champions:

• Maryum Ahmed

• Mingze Sun