Welcome to LTHT youth service
The Youth Service at the Leeds Children’s Hospital work within individual services to provide support for young people transitioning from paediatric to adult services. We provide continued support for young people, working with them from when they enter our service to when they transition to adult services. We are the largest hospital Youth Service in the country with Youth Workers in the following specialist teams:
- Liver
- Diabetes
- Rheumatology
- Oncology
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Gender Identity and endocrine
- Weight management
- The A&E Navigator Service
Our Youth Workers support young people to develop holistically, working with them to facilitate their medical, personal, social and educational development, enabling patients to have a voice, have influence and to act as an advocate for young people across the trust.
Meet the team
“For all young people to have access to youth support throughout the hospital in one way or another. To provide a service that supports young people better manage their health condition. To provide and develop a service that holistically meets young people’s needs and enables them to better access support, care and take responsibility for their condition. To incorporate and exemplify The Leeds Way values.”
Our Management Team
Youth Work Manager – Mwesigwa Magumba
Mobile: 07385408013
Email: [email protected]
Senior A and E navigator – Matthew Guest
Mobile: 07827357782
Email: [email protected]
Youth Work Team
Leoni Silver – Cystic Fibrosis Youth Worker
Mobile: 07765679828
Email: [email protected]
Darren Meade – Young Adult Diabetes Youth Worker
Mobile: 07770430929
Email: [email protected]
Faye Bishop – Paediatric Diabetes Youth Worker
Mobile: 07557076800
Email: [email protected]
Georgia Hayward – Rheumatology Youth Worker
Email: [email protected]
Stacey Robertson – Gender Identity and Endocrine Youth Worker
Mobile 07385413433
Email: [email protected]
Hayley Snee – Complications of Excess Weight (CEW) Youth Worker
Kerry Warner – Liver Youth Worker
Mobile: 07500127468
Email: [email protected]
Rowan Jameson-Mcauley – A&E Naviagtor Youth Worker
Mobile: 07955276554
Email: [email protected]
Alice Jackson – A&E Navigator Youth Worker
Mobile: 07823519312
Email: [email protected]
Padma Dontamsetti – Adult Teenage Cancer Trust Youth Support Coordinator
Mobile: 07775546052
Email: [email protected]
Cat Carrol – Peadiatric Teenage Cancer Trust Youth Support Coordinator
Mobile: 07921816726
Email: [email protected]
Charlotte Flynn – Admin Support A and E navigators
What we can do and how we can help
We work with and support young people in the hospital during clinic appointments, on the ward, in youth spaces and meet young people out the in the community.
We’re really proud of our onsite young person friendly space called the Place to Be@LTHT. This is our Youth Centre at Leeds Children’s Hospital LGI site. It is a dedicated young person’s space where we offer a lot of 1-1 support and group work depending on the needs of our young people, for both inpatients and outpatients.
What we offer
1-1 Support
We offer confidential support around any issues that you may be concerned about. We provide emotional support around mood and anxiety, confidence building, support attending outpatient appointments and we can support you to access peer support.
Transition Support
Transition is what we call the process of a young person moving from children’s to adult services in our hospitals. We work closely with colleagues at Leeds Children’s Hospital and colleagues in adult services across LTHT. From the age of 12 you will start to attend the adolescent clinic to start working on building your skills and confidence around managing your health condition. This will be done with lots of support from the youth workers to ensure you feel confident before moving to the adult hospital. When you are of transition age you will then join the young adult’s clinic where you will again be with young people of a similar age. We can help you get to know the new team whenever you move and offer continued support.
Advocacy
We can support you to ensure your voice is heard and that you are aware and involved in decision making processes that affect you. We support you by offering to be the link between you and your hospital teams to aid communication.
Liaison with other agencies
We can support patients to access support and resources from other organisations such as housing, education and health professionals outside the hospitals.
Practical support
We can help patients access further education such as college as well as volunteering or employment opportunities.
Personal and Social Emotional Support
We are available when you need to talk and support you to develop social skills if needed. We ensure our dialogue is confidential and we’ll explain what this means.
Signposting
Helping you to find appropriate help in your local area, such as counselling services or mental health support.
Why Youth Workers in Hospital?
- We will support young people to meet their educational, social and well-being needs as they navigate having a long-term health condition
- To support young people and their families to develop independent health care management skills
- Empower young people to take responsibility for themselves and develop confidence
- Signposting/referring young people to external agencies for support
- Be a point of support/contact and be a keyworker through the transition process from age 13 to 25 years
- Provide opportunities for peer support for patients to develop other skills
- Provide emotional support and opportunities to grow in confidence, develop communication skills, be part of a team and much more
- We as Youth Workers are advocates for young people and will always put young people’s views forward
- We are the positive link between home, society and hospital and are always there when support is needed
Our Services and Facilities
We recognise that supporting young people’s social and emotional well-being while they are in hospital is massively important and that transition can sometimes be challenging to navigate alongside having other needs. Some of the things we do to help this, as well as some of the facilities we can provide, include:
The Place2Be
A dedicated teenage space, run by the Youth Work Service and based in Clarendon Wing, Leeds Children’s Hospital, LGI site.
Weekly Youth Clubs
Both online and face to face for inpatients and outpatients. Please see timetable for more details.
Youth Forum
This is a young people’s forum, open to all young people being treated within LTHT. It is a safe space where young people discuss their views and ideas for improving the hospital experience for children and young people.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Through the Duke of Edinburgh Award Program young people have fun, make friends, improve their self-esteem and build confidence. They gain essential skills and attributes for work and life such as resilience, problem-solving, team-working, communication and drive, enhancing CVs, university and job applications. It is a life-changing experience. Our youth service is the only hospital-based youth service in the country to offer a DofE award program for patients. For more information email: [email protected].
Contact Us
Referrals
To make a referral to the Youth Service please email: [email protected].
General queries
If you have any questions or want to talk to a youth worker, please don’t hesitate to contact the team.
Tel: 0113 39 25964
Other ways to keep in touch
You can find films regarding transition, patient stories, 360 degree ward tours and much more on Leeds Children’s Hospital TV (LCHTV).
You can also follow us on our dedicated twitter account @LTHTYouthService.