Jan Hyde

Jan Hyde, health and social care development officer for extended schools at Greenwich Council, took the lead in setting up the scheme.At the time, there was a growing recognition of the levels of health inequalities among young people in the borough who weren't accessing health services, she says."We had high teenage conception rates and high rates of poor nutrition, asthma, smoking and drug misuse.There was also a growing awareness of the how social factors were impacting on children's performance in school," she explains.

The agencies working with young people in the borough felt that the best way to tackle these problems was by working together; one outcome of this joined up approach was Teen Talk.Consultation with the pupils at the school identified what they were looking for in a service.What they wanted was a dedicated and accessible service that was also confidential, and this is what has been provided.The pupils chose the name and the decor of the centre, helping to give them ownership of the service."It's their service, not anyone else's," says Hyde.

Open every lunchtime, the pupils that visit discuss a raise a variety of issues - ranging from contraception to bullying or family problems and staff are on hand to help talk through their concerns or, if necessary, refer them onto specialist agencies.Literally any issue is explored - the staff don't want to be prescriptive and it's the kids that set the agenda, Hyde emphasises.
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Getting all the agencies - Greenwich Council, Greenwich Teaching Primary Care Trust and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trust, as well as Kidbrooke School - behind the initiative wasn't hard, says Hyde."Everyone was signed up and committed to this way of working which was really good.There weren't any problems from a strategic point of view."Indeed funding for the scheme has now been mainstreamed, and Teen Talk has become part of their core business for the team members.

However, Hyde does admit that it wasn't always straightforward developing an effective partnership approach when it came to delivering the service.Initial tensions arose between nursing staff and the youth workers, who were used to a less structured way of working.But these difficulties have now been ironed out and it's the way the individual staff work together now that justifies the Department of Health accolade, Hyde believes.