MAJOR MILESTONE
GOREY YOUTH NEEDS OFFERS A PLACE TO MAKE FRIENDS, GROW AND DEVELOP AND TO REALLY THRIVE
is only for children who are engaging in bad behaviour, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,’ said Mandi.
Popular groups within in Gorey Youth Needs include the LGBTI+ group and the gaming group, and Mandi said that along the way methods of diversity have been key.
‘In our gaming and computers group, we use this as a method to engage with young people. Some of those hard to reach teenagers, who are going home from school and on to a screen, we went about looking at ways to use what they are interested in as method to carry out youth work.
‘When they come to the group they are meeting people that have the same interests and doing so face to face, and over the last few weeks it has really grown legs.
‘We are constantly trying to think of ways of getting people through the front door and we decided to use the screens as a positive, as it bring their technology skills as well’.
In terms of development, Little Daisy’s childcare is based around child-centred play and diversity in terms of race and religion has also brought the service along.
Describing the development of the youth training programmes as one of the biggest achievements of Gorey Youth Needs, Mandi praised facilitators Matthew Dunbar and Philip Maher for their hard work.
‘The education programmes provide a clear pathway for people that hadn’t been there before.
‘This is the year that you can see everything coming together as the entire education plan for Gorey is developed.
‘There’s a ladder there that young people are climbing, progressing slowly as a team and gaining the confidence.
‘This year we filled our spaces just on referrals from previous students, which is just proof of success’.