Creating the Headspace Toolkit
The first version of the Headspace Toolkit was produced over a 10 month period between 2004 and 2005. Much consultation with young people was undertaken particularly in Orchard Lodge, near Taunton and The Riverside Unit, in Bristol.
This was really fun as we blew the toolkit up to A1 size and stuck it on the wall then armed everyone with markers, stickers and post-it notes and invited them to pass comment and judgement on what we had to show them. We then gathered together all their feedback and incorporated it into the next draft (some of their responses have been used as direct quotes throughout the toolkit). Tasks to do this were shared out according to how much the project advisers felt able to do at any one time.
January - March 2005;
was spent refining the toolkit and doing further consultations with other advocates and professionals working in the area of children's mental health. At this time we also began working with Somerset College of Art and Technology to choose a graphic design student to work on the toolkit's layout. There were several good designs put forward but Chris Nokes' excellent use of graphics, layout and characters that he had drawn made a real impression on us and got unanimously selected.
March - June 2005;
was spent further refining the toolkit's contents. No count of the number of drafts was kept but by May we were well into double figures. We had to work a lot on the legal content of the toolkit as we had the toolkit checked by several people including Anthony Harbour (solicitor and adviser to the Royal College of Psychiatrists Child and Adolescent Faculty) and Christine Daly of the Children's Legal Centre. At the same time Chris worked to develop his graphic designs and to work them into the toolkit. This was really exciting as the toolkit began to came alive in front of our eyes. The toolkit went to the printers in June 2005.
In 2007 the Mental Health Act 1983 was amended
to become the Mental Health Act 2007.
In light of these changes the Headspace Toolkit required updating and in 2008 Advocacy in Somerset was approached by Kathryn Pugh, the National Lead for the Children and Young People's Programme NIMHE Mental Health Act 2007 Implementation Team to update the Toolkit and the website.
The updated legal information was approved by legal specialists at the Department of Health.
NIMHE website - www.mhact.csip.org.uk
As part of this exercise the appearance of the Toolkit has also undergone some changes in or to appeal to a broader age range of young people.
The new version of the Headspace Toolkit is now available to download at the top of every page of this website or to order as a hard copy from Advocacy in Somerset.
Click here to download your copy as a PDF.
Click below to email Advocacy in Somerset
to order hardcopies.
Click these links to find out more about the Children's Rights Alliance for England and the Ready Steady Change Programme.
Created by Advocacy in Somerset - Registered Charity No. 1093096
Initially funded by the Childrens Rights
Alliance for England’s
Ready Steady Change Programme
Upgrade in 2008 funded by the National Institute for Mental Health in England
and the Department of Health
Copyright © Advocacy in Somerset Ltd 2009