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News from Webwheel (Click here for News from Centres) REAL DEAL programme now available to Youthreach and Community Training Centres REAL DEAL is a sexual health and personal development programme that was researched and designed by a group of Irish women who were themselves teenage mothers. This programme is now being offered to young women aged 15 – 19 years attending Youthreach and Community Training Centres. The REAL DEAL programme comprises six sessions taking approximately five hours to complete. This allows the entire programme to be delivered in one day. The sessions cover sex education, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, self esteem and goal setting. The training is delivered by two of the peer educators who designed the programme, with one of the original project coordinators accompanying them as backup. Due to the childminding constraints of the peer educators, all the travel and training arrangements must occur between 8am and 6pm. This means the training usually takes place between 9.30 or 10am and 4 pm and is thus restricted to centres that are within one and a half hours or so distance from Dublin or Naas. Signed parental consent forms are required for all girls under 17 years, and must be collected in advance of the training. The programme was designed for young women who have not yet had any children and is not appropriate for mums or expectant mums. REAL DEAL was originally developed by a group of ten peer educators with the support of project coordinators Anne Fitzpatrick and Catherine Bell and relevant health professionals. It was funded by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. A pilot was run in two Community Training Centres and two Youthreach centres in counties Kildare and Dublin in 2008, with the peer educators sharing their experiences as young mothers and offering education on topics relating to various aspects of sexual health and personal development. An evaluation found that the training programme was well received by participants and provided an opportunity for both peer educators and participants to improve their knowledge of sexual health and relationships in an innovative manner. Speaking at the launch of the evaluation report in Tallaght in February 2009, Caroline Spillane, Director of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency said: "The REAL DEAL peer educators are to be commended for not only highlighting the challenges of teen parenthood, but also for empowering participants to have the confidence and skills to make informed choices about their sexual health. Parenthood poses a challenge for all parents, irrespective of age, and it’s important that teenage parents are aware of the supports that are available to them. It’s vital that supportive environments such as this are replicated across the country, to equip young people with the information they need while ensuring that the reality of teen parenthood is accurately portrayed but not stigmatised." This training programme has already been delivered to learners in Naas, Tallaght and Ballaghdereen Youthreach centres. For any additional information about REAL DEAL or to arrange the training in your centre ring Anne Fitzpatrick on 087 9850298. Samaritan’s Developing Emotional Awareness and Learning Programme (DEAL)
The resources are equally suited to learners in the Youthreach / CTC context and can be used comfortably with young people who are slightly older than the original target group. Flexibility DEAL can be taught as part of a lesson on a range of subjects, including English literature, drama, RE and geography. Samaritans has developed DEAL so that emotional health is seen as relevant to learning generally, rather than any one specific area of the curriculum, reflecting the fact that emotional health-related skills are important to all parts of life. This approach fits very well with the importance given to personal and social development in the Youthreach and CTC programmes. DEAL materials are designed not just for use by PSHE specialists, but also by generalist teachers like class tutors or keyworkers, and can be used as a series of lessons or as part of a collapsed curriculum day. The materials cater for different learning styles, and are based on a facilitative style of teaching, which encourages pupils to express and develop their own ideas and ways of thinking about the issues in question. Resources Most of the resources can be freely downloaded directly from the Samaritan’s website http://www.samaritans.org/your_emotional_health/work_in_schools.aspx. These include information booklets, staff training activities, lesson plans, factsheets, videos and audio recordings, while a 6-part interactive DVD is available on request (see below). The themes of the DEAL programme lesson plans are: DVD Every secondary school in the UK and the Republic of Ireland received a copy of the DEAL resources as part of the launch in October 2006. However, a free copy of the DEAL interactive DVD is now available to Youthreach centres and CTCs. To request a copy please email Sam Oakley at schools@samaritans.org and mention Mary Gordon.
DES Funding Review The Department is currently conducting
a review of the uses of the funding provided for Guidance,
Counselling and Psychological Services in 2008.
Both VECs and centre coordinators / directors / managers are being asked to complete a short questionnaire on their use of the budget provided for this purpose and to return these to Mary Gordon by Fri 4 September 2009. These questionnaires can be downloaded below, filled in electronically and returned by email to Mary_Gordon@neps.gov.ie. Questionnaire for centre coordinators / directors / managers
The WebWheel website is very pleased to say that the Special Educational Needs Action in Youthreach was one of the projects selected by the European Commission as representing a practice that stimulates innovative or creative behaviour in people and promotes an innovative or creative approach to problems in society.
The European Commission is showcasing the SEN Action as an example of a very innovative and creative European project and has published an account of it under Projects on its EYCI 2009 website (http://create2009.europa.eu/http://create2009.europa.eu/ ). Anger Management Programme for Centres An anger management programme that is now available to Youthreach and Senior Traveller Training and Community Training centres is called the Cool Anger Management (CAM) programme and was devised by Brian Lennon, a psychologist and guidance counsellor who works for Co Louth VEC. Brian describes the programme as a series of activities to help teenagers deal with strong emotions. The programme has three main goals: 1)
to help teenagers become more aware of their anger; 2) to help them
deal more effectively with it; and 3) to provide teaching staff with
practical guidelines. The materials in the programme can
be used in a number of different ways. They can be targeted
at young people with identified anger problems, either
through group work or in one-to-one sessions, and they can also be
used in a more general way with groups as an SPHE programme dealing
with mental well-being. Information for Young Parents in Education The new edition of Information for Young Parents in Educationis now available thanks to a grant received from the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. This new edition has been expanded on the previous one and there is now a separate section on Financial Supports for Higher Education. Other contents include a list of Youth Cafés, Young Parents Programmes, General Financial Supports, Back to Education / Training, Childcare and a list of useful organisations. For pregnant students attention is also drawn to the Home Tuition Scheme and Exams during Labour. With the approaching school year this publication will be useful to young parents who are considering entering or re-entering education. The publication aims to assist young parents to be the best providers they can be for their families by increasing their employment possibilities. The booklet is available free of charge from Treoir, info@treoir.ie, LoCall: 1890 252 084 or 01-6700 120. It can also be downloaded from the publications section of Treoir’s website: www.treoir.ie. Young people and suicide in Ireland According to the Irish Health Poverty Index published in August 2008 by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland, the Republic of Ireland experienced one of the fastest rising suicide rates in the world during the 1980s and 1990s, with the overall suicide rate doubling during that period. The level of death by suicide here remains high, and particularly among young people in the age range 15 – 24 years. However, research from Australia and elsewhere suggests that the mentoring approach used in the WebWheel model can provide the kind of support that appears to be effective in reducing youth suicide. See the item in Level B. Launch of WebWheel Website
See their website www.nln.ie for details of dates and locations. This section is for material provided by centres. It demonstrates some of the range of activities and interventions taking place in centres for supporting learners and increasing their well-being and resilience. It also includes examples of the work and creativity of the learners themselves. Centres are invited to send Mary Gordon material for inclusion in this section. The Dream Pictures from centres - click on a photo to see full size
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The European Commission has declared 2009 the European Year of Creativity and Innovation (EYCI 2009). This is taking place within the overall framework of several EU policy initiatives fostering creativity and innovation, including
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