MY STORY
Pearl (17), Liverpool
I joined PAC as I wanted to be part of a project which enabled young people to feel empowered. This project allows us as young people to find ways and gain a deeper knowledge of a topic that is usually dismissed and left for adults to “figure out”. I joined this project to be able to show other members of my city and community how all of our voices and opinions matter equally. This project matters to me as I have always wanted to be able to use my voice to make a change.
I also aim to become more educated on the causes and consequences of youth violence. Being part of this project, I don’t want to just see the views and opinions of victims of youth violence but also “perpetrators”. With the recent matters that have happened in my city I believe it is very important to have the knowledge of why these things happen and how we can prevent it and hopefully this will be shown in our research at the end of the project. This project is giving me the confidence and skills to do so.
“I joined PAC as I wanted to be part of a project which enabled young people to feel empowered. This project allows us as young people to find ways and gain a deeper knowledge of a topic that is usually dismissed and left for adults to “figure out”.”
I am also going to be studying psychology this September at university, with the aim to hopefully become a clinical psychologist.
I believe this experience will give me key skills, such as teamwork and a variety of communication skills, which are adaptable for each individual personality.
This project is very important to me as a black female, as it allows me to research different stigmas and stereotypes of people of colour when it comes to youth violence. Mental health is also a key aspect in youth violence and growing up as a person of colour I was given a very distorted image of mental health. In many families of colour, mental health (specifically in a negative aspect) can usually be dismissed. This project gives me the ability to see the impact of youth violence and mental health across a large and diverse group of people.
At the end of this project I aim to be more educated on youth violence and have the continued confidence to use my voice to try an educate others on such topics. I also want to be an example for other young people to know that they should be comfortable to speak about topics they are passionate about and to always be considerate of others, as you don’t know the struggles of someone’s personal life.
