For young people experiencing chronic pain, transitioning from children’s to adult’s hospitals for pain management services is a daunting time. But, thanks to students at the Studio, there’s a new resource to help them navigate the move.

When Apt. Creative was tasked with creating a booklet to help a young person aged 14-18 living with chronic pain to transition to adult services, they approached the Studio. Working with two focus groups, Ignite students from Year 9 and a group of students from Year 12, Apt. began to form the booklet. 

In the first workshop, the students examined visuals around fashion, gaming and ‘youth branding’, discussing what was most appealing and effective to them. By looking at even the finer details, down to fonts, colours and tone of voice, the students were able to give their views on what they feel would work best for them. With some students already having experience of pain management either for themselves or family members, the focus groups were able to effectively explore feelings around pain management, and what the final product needed to include to be a truly helpful booklet for the young people transitioning to adult services. 

For the second workshop, the team at Apt. arrived prepared with graphics and visual mock-ups of the final product, based on the feedback from the first session. Seeing their views translated into a product, our students spent time discussing their work, making improvements and getting their points across on what was needed. When the students were asked to vote on a preferred style, the groups had a clear favourite and vision for the booklet. 

Now, the final product is available for patients at the Walton Centre. Clinical psychologist and Walton Pain Team project lead Kerry Matthews said that the booklet is “something that we are proud of and excited to begin using within our pain transition services.” With physical booklets, an online version and a fully accessible version for screen readers, The Walton Pain Centre is hoping that they can share the booklet across other NHS organisations, so patients all across the service can benefit from what Studio students helped to create.