YMCA

YMCA is a voluntary organisation that works with children, young people and families and the community, with particular regard to those who are disadvantaged and disaffected. Underpinned by Christian principles, each YMCA responds to local needs and seeks to share and learn from being a part of a national and international movement. We have generations of experience delivering holistic, life changing programmes to young people and their communities. We partner with young people to powerfully address their areas of need, including geographical disadvantage, drug and alcohol misuse, underemployment, cultural integration and identity formation. In all we do, we employ evidence based methodologies, supported by transparent accountability and management structures. YMCA Ireland offers a range of support programmes, summarised below: PAKT (Parents and Kids Together) is a community based family support programme. It involves children aged 6-18 and their families in a range of holistic developmental activities carried out both separately and together. PAKT aims to provide a low cost quality intervention that is designed to promote the key factors of resilient young people, including social competence, self efficacy, global justice, physical health, wellbeing and relationships, participation, spirituality and parental and family support. The YMCA has a core commitment to creating “Wrap Around Services” for our young people. In youth work, we offer four distinct but interlocking programme areas: Youth Vocational Training, Youth Health, Youth Spaces and Youth Advocacy. Each programme area offers a different dimension of support to a young person, and we have found a high level of engagement from YMCA participants, moving across all programme areas. This occurs through the informal connections that participants make with staff, volunteers, young leaders and networks of other programme users. Youth Vocational Training (our STEP and Elevate training programmes, as well as other back to education and employment initiatives) provides support for a young person’s ‘next steps’ in life; be that employment support, personal development, career advice, education and skills, and/or work experience. These programmes help young people achieve success through non-formal learning. Our Youth Health programmes come in ‘underneath’ a young person to provide foundational support for healthy choices in the areas of mental and spiritual health, relationships, nutrition, exercise, sleep and other healthy lifestyle choices. YMCA is particularly experienced and effective in providing support for drug and alcohol addiction prevention and recovery. Our drug and alcohol support workers and counsellors have all the skills, professional support, networks and experience needed to intervene when young people are struggling to break the hold of substance misuse and abuse. YMCAs Youth Spaces are youth-led, informal spaces where young people can exercise their leadership and autonomy to co-create the safe spaces and pro social networks they need to thrive. These spaces are open to all young people and engagement is voluntary. They are supported and protected by skilled staff, but all the ideas, energy and outreach are cultivated by the young people themselves. To facilitate this, YMCA has developed a Leaders in Training programme where young leaders are introduced to the core concepts of youth work, community development and peer-led support. These young leaders are strongly engaged in partnership with us, helping us to reach far further into the surrounding youth culture than we would be able to otherwise. Youth Advocacy is the programme area ‘that’s got young people’s back’, standing with them to advocate for positive change in society within and without our organisation, community and national context. This advocacy takes the form of high profile public campaigns that relate to issues relevant to participants such as mental health and suicide or youth justice. It also