GOREY YOUTH NEEDS MARKS
AFTER TEN YEARS ON GOREY’S MARY WARD LANE, GOREY YOUTH NEEDS HAS MADE AN IMPACT ON THE WHOLE COMMUNITY FROM TODDLERS TO TEENAGERS
2019 was a very special year for Gorey Youth Needs as it marked ten years on location in their Mary Ward Lane premises in Gorey.
During that time, the ever-growing team of youth workers, teachers, volunteers and staff have been doing their bit for the community and have seen young people right from infancy to adolescence.
Gorey Youth Needs is a registered charity funded by TUSLA, and it also benefits from government funding, donations, local fundraising efforts and support from the Community Employment Programme.
Services offered by Gorey Youth Needs include after school club, Little Daisies community based child care, LGBTI+ club, Courtown YOLO’s as well as three local Youth Training Initiative programmes, offering courses on location in Gorey and Courtown.
At the centre, there are also support services in place for parents, and all youth groups are free of charge to the participants.
It was November 2009 when the team first moved in to the premises on Mary Ward Lane after receiving the necessary funding. The group had been established in 1995 but had only secured proper fit for purpose accommodation at that time, and CEO Mandi Tighe said that a lot has changed in those ten years.
‘It is now much bigger than just a youth service. What is really unique is that we get to work with people over a long duration of time as we see them in the crèche, in primary school groups, then teenage youth services, which then work as a feeder to the training programmes, so we to work with families for a long period of time’.
Mandi said the training programmes enable people who didn’t necessarily do well in school to still go forward and progress in their careers.
‘The programmes fill a little gap and two of our former students are now on the payroll as teachers. They went to college and are now back tutoring on the programme.
‘It shows that it can really work and be affective if they use it as a stepping stone to further education’.
All at Gorey Youth Needs are preparing for the ten year celebration, and they admit they have some bigger plans for the future.
‘We are pushing to have the place looking more child-friendly and approachable and we are asking the children themselves how to make it what they want it to be.
‘We will be applying for an Investing in Children award, when we feel we really deserve it, and there are works going on at the moment to prepare for a new quiet study area for young people to use,’ said Mandi.
Not only has the Gorey Youth Needs organisation changed over the years, but Mandi explained that the actual needs of young people are also changing.
‘We’ve definitely seen a change in how young people communicate and connect.
‘Years ago, face to face interaction was all we had but we are starting to recognise that young people are connecting and engaging differently and we are trying to keep up and move with those times as well.
‘We recently started a support group for people with anxiety, and within the first two weeks we had a full group and there is a waiting list and we will be rolling this again after Christmas.
‘The group is activity based and recreational as well as being youth led, as the participants themselves choose what they wish to do.
‘The aim is to teach transferable skills, coping strategies and resilience. Key to the group is that we show young people that we cannot cure their anxiety, but that they can learn skills to help them manage it’.
Mandi said that at the moment young people appear to need more support in this area across the board.
‘We do have to be creative and work together because there are gaps in services when it comes to mental health. Parents are key and they sometimes underestimate what they can actually do to support their children’.
Gorey Youth Needs aims to support by providing space for young people to be themselves.
‘We have young people here that are quiet and struggle to socialise in a busy environment.
‘Gorey Youth Needs offers a place for them to make friends, grow and develop and to really thrive.
‘It’s all about growing confidence and belonging to an organisation which is of huge benefit to any teenager.
‘We have children from all backgrounds and walks of life, and for children on the spectrum and those with disabilities, the door is always open’.
Over the last ten years, young people from Gorey Youth Needs have contributed to the town in countless ways.
‘We have good working relationships with other groups, and we have met and worked with members of Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District, the Gardaí, Gorey Family Resource Centre, Wexford Local Development and the Junior Liason Officer.
‘Events like the St Patrick’s Day parade and family fun days, it has been good to help children get involved in their community.
‘Gorey has a lot to offer recreationally, but what Gorey Youth Needs offers is something for young people that don’t really have a particular hobby as such or are unsure on what they might like to get in to.
‘Not every young person here is like that but we offer something to children who are not good at sport or music, or generally not good mixers, and we give them a safe space to engage in other activities, try out now things and find their interests.
‘There is a bit of a stigma out there that Gorey Youth Needs