A note from Elaine, our former SPEN Coordinator

Elaine, who has now left our team to enjoy some well deserved early retirement, shares with us some thoughts around her experience with SPEN over the past few years.

There have been a lot of changes in the past 6 years since I started working at Fast Forward.

As coordinator of the Scottish Peer Education Network (SPEN) I have seen the world of health and wellbeing – and young people’s involvement – change and grow for the better.

In the news, we hear a lot about social media and there are many critics and experts with opinions. However, despite being aware of the more risky side of online activity, there is also plenty of good stuff out there. So, let me be positive for a few sentences.

Young people, as individuals, or part of a team/organization posting messages of self-help, general health and wellbeing support, positivity around body image, good mental health, healthy eating and confidence has never been more obvious amongst the ‘twitterers’ I follow as part of my role. Our young people are clever and powerful and have huge ability to change how we view ourselves and the world. Peer support is the new thing (although we’ve all been doing it for centuries) and has never been more relevant. Just having conversations with each other about health is as important as the online nationwide campaigns and initiatives. Keep it positive, keep it relevant and keep it going.

We, as the adults in the room, have to accept that the online world is a reality for young people and as important a place as the reality of our (my) past before the internet (I am old enough to remember that far back). We, as those adults, practitioners, staff, parents and friends have a responsibility to support, nurture and promote the goodness and kindness of young people in what can sometimes seem like a very unforgiving world, no matter where they are from or where they are going.

It has been a privilege to have met so many lovely people in my time at Fast Forward, including the staff team there. Coming from the public sector to the third sector was a bit of a culture shock and has turned out to have been a very positive experience and one that perhaps more people should do.

Our health and wellbeing is at the forefront of so much in all sectors of employment and education and long may it continue to be. We are all making a difference, but it is and always has been a slow burn. Keep going and thank you to you all for the support, kindness, friendships and learning experiences over the past 6 years.