Project 99 – Aye Mind

Project 99 – Our exploratory phase of digital youth mental health work

Project 99 is our original exploratory phase of work on digital youth mental health. The findings and outputs of this project have evolved into the Aye Mind we know today. This page provides a summary of what we did as part of this project and some of its key outputs.

How did Project 99 come about?

As part of our work to create a strategic approach to promote good mental health in young people, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC) and its partners were keen to explore the potential of digital tools and resources. We wanted to understand young people’s needs and issues, to get a better feel for how they use (or might use) digital resources, and above all to tap into their skills and imagination in designing possible solutions.

Project 99 was therefore funded as an agreed action in the strategic programme for Child and Youth Mental Health Improvement for Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The project, commissioned by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, was taken forward by a consortium that included the national youth information agency Young Scot, service design agency Snook, and the Mental Health Foundation. It was guided by a multi-agency steering group that in turn helped forge connections with a range of local youth groups and projects.

What did we do?

Desk research, including a mini literature review
We scoped global evidence of existing good practice, which was used to inform our processes for Project 99.

Read the findings from the review.

Interactive map of mental health-related digital tools
We also then mapped both the international and UK-based digital ‘assets’ which focused on young people’s mental health.

The latest version of this can be seen on our ‘Useful tools’ page.

Case study development
Through a variety of youth work contacts, we identified a number of young people who were able to provide some in-depth (anonymised) stories in a case study format. This gave us tremendous insights into experiences of mental health issues, use of digital technologies, and how these two might relate to each other. The four case studies can be read below:

Project 99: Case Study – Lisa’s Story

This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts,…

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Project 99: Case Study – Jenny’s Story

This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts, we…

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Project 99: Case Study – Greig’s Story

This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts, we…

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Project 99: Case Study – Ben’s Story

This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts, we…

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Engagement and co-design events
We ran a series of engagement and co-design events, both with individual youth projects and with volunteers combined from several projects to enable more in-depth design sessions. These led to the development of an exciting portfolio of design prototypes from the young people, supported by service designers, which were then packaged up for consideration by partner agencies. Young people then had the opportunity to present their experiences and ideas to senior health and education colleagues in what was a very lively and productive joint event.

Read the young people’s design prototypes.

We also gathered a range of insights from the young people regarding their views and experiences of mental health, social media, and online behaviour patterns. You can read the outputs of these below: