Engagements / Young people & community
Wigan Youth Zone
From conversation into action.
An interactive community engagement bringing together lived experience, mental health, inspiration, aspiration and sport to help young people explore challenges and what could come next.
- Environment
- Youth and community
- Format
- Talk, discussion and sport
- Focus
- Mental health, confidence and aspiration
The engagement
Young people need more than a message delivered at them
Why Not I delivered an interactive engagement at Wigan Youth Zone focused on mental health, inspiration, aspiration and the challenges young people may encounter while finding their direction.
The experience combined honest conversation with participation. Young people were invited to listen, ask questions, reflect on what they believed was possible and then move into a practical sports session built around confidence, connection and teamwork.
The purpose was not to offer a simple motivational message. It was to create different ways for young people to engage with ideas about wellbeing, self-belief and personal action.
The three-part journey
Words became movement
Conversation opened the experience. Aspiration made it personal. Participation gave the group a way to put the ideas into motion.
- 01
Honest conversation
Making mental health easier to talk about
Kofi shared lived experience and opened a conversation around mental health, pressure, setbacks and the importance of finding someone to speak to when life becomes difficult. The discussion placed honesty at the centre without asking young people to disclose personal information publicly.
- 02
Inspiration and aspiration
Helping possibility feel personal
The interactive session explored the difference between seeing somebody else achieve and beginning to believe that progress may also be possible in your own life. Young people were encouraged to consider their own goals, the direction they wanted to move in and the practical choices that could help them begin.
- 03
Movement and teamwork
Putting participation into the experience
A sport and movement session brought the group together in a different way, creating opportunities for participation, confidence, connection and teamwork. The activity reinforced a central Why Not I principle: inspiration becomes more meaningful when people are given an opportunity to act.
Why relatability matters
Connection comes before influence
Young people are more likely to engage when a message feels honest, relevant and connected to the realities they recognise.
Kofi’s story includes achievement in international sport, but it also includes bereavement, injury, pressure, uncertainty and serious mental health struggles.
Sharing both sides of the journey allows success to be presented without pretending the path was straightforward. It shows that challenge and possibility can exist in the same story—and that seeking support can be part of moving forward.
Youth voice and participation
Not an audience. Participants.
The engagement was designed to give young people more than a passive role.
Conversation allowed them to question and reflect. The inspiration and aspiration activity encouraged them to connect the message with their own lives. Sport created another way to participate, communicate and experience progress alongside others.
This combination helped the day move between listening, thinking, speaking and doing.
Core ideas explored
A direction for action
Four connected ideas moved from opening a conversation to taking a practical step.
- 01
Speak
Mental health becomes easier to support when people feel able to begin an honest conversation.
- 02
Believe
Self-belief does not guarantee an outcome, but it can stop someone from closing the door before they have tried.
- 03
Choose
Aspiration gives inspiration a direction by helping a person decide what they want to move towards.
- 04
Act
Progress begins through practical steps, continued effort and accepting appropriate support along the way.
Trusted adults and community spaces
Young people do not move forward alone
Confidence and resilience are often spoken about as though they belong entirely to the individual.
Young people are also shaped by the relationships and environments around them. Youth workers, staff, parents, mentors and community organisations can all help create the conditions in which somebody feels heard, encouraged and supported.
Community spaces such as Wigan Youth Zone can provide opportunities for conversation, activity and connection beyond formal education.
Visual event story
Conversation in a community setting
Original event photography records a group discussion and closer exchanges inside Wigan Youth Zone.
From possibility to a next step
Inspiration should open a door. Action is how someone begins to walk through it.
A powerful story can help a young person see possibility, but lasting value comes from connecting that possibility with their own decisions, relationships and next steps.
Why Not I exists to help move the conversation forward—from recognition to aspiration, from aspiration to action and from action towards change supported by the community around them.
Connection to the framework
The Why Not I journey
The Wigan Youth Zone engagement brought each stage into one experience: a story that introduced possibility, reflection that made it personal and activity that encouraged participation.
Discover the full Why Not I approach- 01
Inspiration
See a possibility.
A relatable example can open up a possibility that did not feel visible before.
- 02
Aspiration
Choose a direction.
That possibility can become a direction—something personal and worth moving towards.
- 03
Implementation
Take a practical step.
Support, opportunity and connection can help turn intention into a practical step.
- 04
Transformation
Change what feels possible.
A step taken can change what someone believes is possible—and inspire the next person to begin.
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What could we create with the young people in your community?
If you represent a youth organisation, community space, school, sports programme or local service, tell us what your young people are navigating and explore how we could build an engagement with them—not simply for them.