YPAS is proud to celebrate long-standing Peer Researcher Grace Ward as she reaches the end of her time with Youth Access and prepares to take the next exciting step in her career with us as a Trainee Children and Young Person’s Wellbeing Practitioner!
Grace has been involved with YPAS for almost 10 years, first as a service user and later as a Peer Researcher. Over that time, she has played a vital role in shaping research, participation work and organisational learning, helping to ensure that young people’s experiences sit at the heart of decision making. Her journey is a powerful example of what can happen when young people are trusted, supported and mentored within the third sector.
During her time at Youth Access, Grace worked within policy and public affairs, bringing together her lived experience, research background and participation expertise. In a recent blog reflecting on her role, Grace explores the importance of respecting lived experience and creating meaningful opportunities for young people to work alongside professionals as equals.
She reflects on both the challenge and the strength of wearing multiple hats as a young person, a policy professional and a peer researcher, and highlights how supportive environments at both YPAS and Youth Access enabled her to thrive. By combining policy knowledge with participation practice, Grace helped ensure that campaigns and projects reflected the real experiences of young people and the political contexts that affect them.
Grace has also been a passionate advocate for opening up the third sector to young people, encouraging organisations to move beyond tokenistic engagement and instead invest in skill building, trust and long-term development. Her writing calls on the sector to be brave, learn from good practice, and work towards a future where people with lived experience are embedded as valued colleagues and leaders.
Everyone at YPAS is incredibly proud of Grace and the impact she continues to make. Her work reflects our shared belief that young people are experts in their own lives and that their insight is essential to shaping services, policy and change.
As Grace prepares to begin her training as a Children and Young Person’s Wellbeing Practitioner, we are so excited for the next step in her journey!