We have worked with Young Scot and Scottish Youth Parliament to develop and expand our analysis of #LockdownLowdown – a survey of over 2,500 young people in Scotland about their concerns over Covid-19.
The initial key findings report, launched on 23 April, found that 96% of young people worry about the impact of coronavirus on their future, with 77% worried about their mental health and wellbeing.
Now, after further analysis of the results, we are able to provide an updated report with detailed breakdowns of key demographics, including geography, age, gender and ethnicity – giving you a fuller picture of the impact of Covid-19 on Scotland’s young people.
We will continue to work with our partners to consult young people through a weekly check-in on social media, so that we can track how attitudes towards ongoing lockdown restrictions shift.
We believe it is key that young people have a clear, powerful voice that is heard by decision-makers when it comes to important decisions on how Scotland moves out of lockdown and into a new normal. Lockdown Lowdown is an important part of this; you can help by sharing the report on Twitter using the hashtag #LockdownLowdown, and tagging @YouthLinkScot, @OfficialSYP and @YoungScot.
“Safe and supportive conversations with young people on their own who are grieving, and exploring coping strategies, needs to be carried out in a safe, nurturing space and not in the public domain of outdoor pitches or fast food eateries.”
We need to move forward and ensure that access to facilities for youth work increases. From our survey we can see that almost all youth organisations responsible for facilities have completed risk assessments. Detailed guidance for school facilities and for outdoor centres has been developed. For centres where youth work is the tenant and not the landlord we need to understand what the barriers might be to their re-opening. If the issue is guidance from the Scottish Government on the use of Community Centres, we know that this is in development and is needed urgently. If the issue is more about the cost then we need to ensure that extra funds are found, as we cannot allow for young people to be prevented from accessing youth work when they need it now more an ever.