Reading time: 3 minutesWhen I think back to my first experiences accessing health services, I was about the same age as many of the students we spoke to in the Involving Young People in Vaccine Decisions project. At the time, I didn’t realise that simply trying to get a diagnosis for my health challenges would teach me so much about how systems work and more often, don’t work for young people.

Reading time: 3 minutesI’ve spent over 20 years working to engage people in shaping the services they use. I’ve seen the power of hearing people’s stories and using them to building better systems. But recently, while working with young people around vaccinations, I found myself facing a very different kind of challenge. These young people weren’t resistant. But they also didn’t seem connected to the experience of having vaccinations at all. It made me wonder: what happens when we try to engage people around something they didn’t choose, don’t feel part of, and maybe didn’t even want?