Vocal Girls is a group of young women who get together to make sure girls’ and young women’s voices are a key part of the Women Friendly Leeds campaign.
6 people joined us for this Big Leeds Chat. What did the young people at Vocal Girls say?
The young women at Vocal Girls agreed that getting access to the GP, dentist, mental health services and sexual health had been hard. They felt that GP receptionists could sometimes be abrupt and generally unhelpful, and when they did manage to get an appointment, it was often too short. Just registering with a dentist was difficult, not least because of the steep joining fees, and some people had been dumped by surgeries for supposed non-attendance. Some people hadn’t been able to see a dentist in years and were stuck on waiting lists, and those needing hospital treatment for long-term conditions or support from sexual health clinics had had to wait for many months.
The young women we met felt there was an over-reliance on prescribing medication for mental health concerns. More social prescribing was suggested as a good complement to more traditional mental health treatment models, although they added that it could be made more accessible than it is right now.
We also heard how the young women would like health education in schools to be improved. They would like to see a lot more discussion about healthy relationships and consent, and they think the way information about STIs is presented is counterproductive. There was also a lot of discussion about how schools were insensitive to girls’ needs when they had their period.
The girls also suggested that education about things like applying for jobs, finances, tax and writing CVs needed to be available for people well into adulthood.
People also wanted to see more for young people to do, including cheaper leisure centres, as well as better, more reliable public transport and safer cycle lanes.
