Your voice

Voice Hub

Do you, or your child, have lived experience of childhood cancer? Young Lives vs Cancer is looking for young people and parents to join our Voice Hub and share their ideas and stories.

Join our Voice Hub

Our Voice work allows children, young people and parents to work alongside teams across our charity, to help shape our work for the better. From one off opportunities like supporting the recruitment of new staff, to shaping the governance of our charity through our Voice Board, the voices of those we support are at the heart of what we do. As a young person, you can share your story with us, and as a parent you can  support your child to share theirs. 

By joining our Hub, you will hear about opportunities to get involved across the organisation, as well as access to training, events and regular e-updates. We know that the best people to tell us what childhood cancer is like, and how to change the system for the better, are the people who’ve experienced it. Join our Voice Hub today and have your say. 

Join our Voice Hub

What can Voice offer me? 

We know that engagement in Voice opportunities has significant benefits for children, young people and families. These include, the development of new skills and experiences, increased wellbeing and confidence, and the sense of purpose that comes from being heard and empowered to take action.  

There are three different types of opportunity at Young Lives vs Cancer: 

• One off: for example, speaking in parliament, taking part in a focus group or being part of the recruitment panel when we hire new staff 
• Projects: as part of a short term group, taking part in project meetings and workshops to develop new pieces of work such as our campaigns  
• Programmes: taking part in structured, long term opportunities such as our Voice Board or Content Creators 

 The Voice Board   

The Voice Board is a group of diverse young people and parents who have lived experience of childhood / young adult cancer. The aim of this group is to ensure that their views and experiences are heard and considered by decision-makers across Young Lives vs Cancer. The board regularly assist Trustees and Directors to make decisions and they are a key feature of our governance – it’s a vital part of making sure we’re meeting the needs of those we support and helping to create positive change for young cancer patients in the future.   

Our approach to voice 

At Young Lives vs Cancer we believe in a rights-based approach. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), meaningful participation is a basic right of all children and young people. This includes both the right to be heard (under Article 12) and the responsibility of parents, care givers and other duty bearers to raise children’s voices, to listen to them and to take action on their perspectives. In our role as a charity working with children and young people, we are duty-bound to engage them – and their parents – in our work. 

Find out more 

Our Voice Team are passionate about listening to the views of children, young people with cancer and their parents. We want to champion their voices and enable them to participate in programmes and activities to shape what we do. If you want to know more, please email voice@younglivesvscancer.org.uk