Chatterbox trees

Before you begin

• Make sure everyone’s finished Five ways to wellbeing chatterbox and has their chatterbox with them.
• Find your decision maker. You can find your member of Parliament with the Parliament website. If you’re in Wales, you could also contact your member of the Senedd; in Scotland, your member of Scottish Parliament; and in Northern Ireland your member of the legislative assembly.
• Your member of parliament is there to represent you, so speaking to them is a great way to get your voice heard and influence positive changes.

Contact your decision maker

1. The person leading the activity should explain that members of parliament and other decision makers represent the people living in an area – speaking to them is a great way for people to get their voices heard and influence positive changes.

MPs also speak to local service providers as part of their job so they may be able to share your perspective.

2. Everyone should work together to figure out what information their decision maker will need. They’ll probably need to give them a choice of dates and explain what they’re inviting them to.

Think about whether you could go to their office, too.

3. Someone should contact the decision maker and organise a meeting.

The best way to do this is to call or email their office. It’s up to you who does this. Remember that decision makers are busy – it’s OK to try again and get back in touch if you don’t get a response.

Make your tree

1. Everyone should work together to draw a big tree with roots and branches on the A3 paper. They should use as much of the paper as they can.

You could use card for this if you have any – it’s up to you whether you get coloured paper or card or colour the tree in.

2. Everyone should use sticky tack to attach their chatterbox to the tree. They should make sure it’s stuck on properly, but their decision maker should be able to gently ease it off to read it.

If anyone doesn’t want to use their original, they could make a copy to attach.

3. Everyone should work together to decide what they want to say to their decision maker. How will they tell them that mental health and wellbeing are important?

People may want to share their personal experiences or what motivated them to campaign for better mental health for all.

4. Everyone should plan what they’ll tell their decision maker about mental health. What have they learned? What needs to be done to achieve better mental health for all?

Remember that not all decision makers will know much about young people’s mental health or the challenges you face. Be ready to start with the basics.

5. Everyone should decide what they’ll ask their decision maker to do. Sometimes people talk about a ‘call to action’.

You could ask them to attend an event, work to improve a local service, or take your issue to parliament.

6. Finally, everyone should think about how they’ll take care of their wellbeing. What will they do if they start feeling overwhelmed? What if someone decides they don’t want to share their experience after all?

For example, you could plan a quiet space where people can take a break or agree a plan for checking in with each other.

Meet your decision maker

1. Everyone should make sure they’re ready and that they remember what their role is.
2. Everyone should take a deep breath and follow their plan to chat to their decision maker. It may seem daunting, but by turning up the decision maker’s making it clear that they care what people have to say.
3. After the meeting, everyone should remind themselves that they’ve done a great thing by using their voice to campaign.
4. Everyone should follow up after the meeting with an email to say thank you and remind the decision maker of any actions they agreed on.

This activity helps contribute towards some of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Find out more about the SDGs, and how Scouts across the world are getting involved.