Peer Power Youth · 2023
This report by Peer Power Youth captures the healthcare experiences and views of 48 children and young people with lived experience of the youth justice system and secure settings in England. Key findings include significant barriers to accessing healthcare, health inequalities linked to identity (race, gender, neurodiversity), and a concept the participants named "forced resilience" — the emotional and psychological toll of being incarcerated with limited autonomy. Young people made concrete recommendations around improving healthcare access, trauma-informed staff practice, trusted relationships, and the clinical focus areas of the NHS Core20PLUS5 strategy for children and young people.