Extern Transforming Lives - May 2022

A LOOK INSIDE SPRING 2022

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER AT HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE AWARDS

EU PEACE PROJECTS CELEBRATE SUCCESS

CEO WELCOME Welcome to the latest edition of your Transforming Lives staff newsletter, as we look back on our many achievements over the past few months, and forward to an exciting few months ahead.

It is hard to believe that it has been over two years since the very first Coronavirus lockdowns came into effect. We can all recall the sense of uncertainty and fear which affected our lives, as we were faced with this onceunthinkable set of circumstances.

As I look back now, it is with a sense of pride for the ways in which we as a organisation not only met the challenges of Covid, but overcame so many of the obstacles which were laid in our path. While it is such a great relief that we are now able to return to some sense of normality in our working lives, including the opportunity to return to office-based working, there are many valuable lessons we have learned from the past two years.

£58k funding boost provides mental health counselling for hard to reach service users

Reading my SLT colleague Leslieann Scott’s own thoughts on this very subject offer a sense of how our experiences have helped us become stronger as an organisation, while still appreciating those small personal touches which are so valuable in our day-to-day work with the most vulnerable in our communities.

Our work with people in need of mental health support has been given a welcome boost thanks to generous funding from the St-Martin-in-the-Fields charity.

So much has been achieved during this time too, not least the expansion of our ground-breaking Bail Supervision Scheme to two key areas, Limerick and Cork, which is the focus of a very insightful feature in this edition. It has also been great to see our other work in the Republic expanding farther afield, through our Problem Gambling project and, for the first time, with a new recruitment campaign for volunteers.

Speaking of volunteers, it has been wonderful to see the impact they have had on the ground, not least our Community Champion Lynsey Poole who played a key role in establishing a new Community Fridge in the Larne area.

This will no doubt have a very positive impact on the lives of people there and will serve as an inspiration for others to do the same across the island.

For myself, being able to re-engage in person with our teams and our service users has also been a wonderful new development this year, and I very much enjoyed meeting many of the young people who engaged with our Third Space project as we marked its conclusion after four very successful years.

It was also an incredible boost for Extern to be named winner in three categories at this year’s NI Health and Social Care Awards. This was especially noteworthy when you consider the very high standard of the other nominees at the event, which recognises the very best of the work which has been carried out in our sector.

I hope that you enjoy reading about all of these great stories and more, and I wish you a bright and enjoyable summer ahead.

Thank you,

Danny McQuillan CEO, Extern

A funding package of £58,574 from the London-based organisation is now being used to offer counselling sessions for service users who are engaged with our Floating Support teams across Northern Ireland and who are unable to access mainstream counselling services.

In 2021, St-Martin-in-the-Fields announced that, as part of a new funding round, it would be making over £1.5 million available over three years to organisations which support its vision of everyone having a safe place to call home and the support they need. Extern was selected as one of the successful recipients of the funding following scores of applications from organisations across the UK. St Martin’s Charity is able to award this fund due to the annual BBC Radio 4 Christmas Appeal, which each year raises millions of pounds to transform the lives of people facing homelessness across the UK. Danny McQuillan, CEO of Extern, said: “We are delighted to have secured such generous funding from this new partnership with the St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity. This will enable us to offer counselling to some of our most vulnerable service users who are often unable to access many mainstream services due to having been engaged within the criminal justice system.

“These funds will enable service users to access life-changing support over the next year, including those we work with through our Floating Support Services, as they make the transition from the criminal justice system to the community, as well as those we support through our hostels across Northern Ireland.

“Having the support of partners such as St Martin’s Charity through vital funding such as this not only transforms lives for the better, but enables us to create safer, stronger communities as a result. We look forward to being able to provide even brighter opportunities for those we support thanks to this generous funding.”

Meanwhile, there has been further good news for our services in Northern Ireland with the award of £50,000 through the Covid Recovery Fund.

Administered by the Department for Communities, this fund supports charities whose fundraising has been negatively impacted by Covid.

EXTERN TAKES HOME TRIO OF PRIZES AT NI HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE AWARDS

Neil Potter (second from left) with his Volunteer of the Year Award.

Front cover, Chloe Carson and Laura Craig from the Ormeau Centre with the award for Supported Living Service of the Year

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t was a night to remember for our frontline addictions and homeless projects in Belfast as they netted a ‘hat-trick’ of wins at this year’s NI Health and Social Care Awards 2022.

Our team members took home the prizes for Social Worker of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Supported Living Service of the Year at the prestigious awards, which recognise and celebrate the hard work and dedication of staff across the health and social care sector in Northern Ireland.

Winner of the Volunteer of the Year award Neil Potter spoke movingly of how he has used his own past experiences with problem drug use to support others as a member of Extern’s Needle & Syringe Exchange team. Based in Belfast city centre, the service offers advice, information and support to help reduce risk of harm from issues associated with injecting drug use.

Speaking following his win, Neil said: “I am overwhelmed at being picked out of so many deserving nominees to win this award. As someone who has experienced problem drug use in my own life, I know how important it is to have the right supports in place to help you manage day-to-day.

“The work that we do in the Needle & Syringe Exchange service really does make a difference to the lives of so many people, so this award is a recognition of every member of the team for their hard work and for their support for me with my own development as a volunteer. Thank you so much!”

Danielle Finlay’s role as a frontline worker with Extern’s Regional Homeless Support Team, supporting people with a range of often complex needs in the South-Eastern Trust area, saw her lift the award for Social Worker of the Year as the only representative of the Voluntary sector among the nominees.

Danielle said: “To be picked out of so many deserving finalists is truly an honour and says a great deal about the high calibre of the people who work in this field. To have been the only finalist who was not from the statutory sector was an added honour. This award is a recognition of the teamwork which has made it possible to support so many through these most challenging times.”

And as one of Extern’s longest running services, the Ormeau Centre for the homeless was named Supported Living Service of the Year.

The Belfast-based hostel continued to provide uninterrupted frontline support for people facing homelessness throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, ensuring that the most vulnerable were able to access vital services in a safe environment.

Danny McQuillan, CEO of Extern, said: “On behalf of everyone at Extern, I am so proud of our fantastic winners and shortlisted candidates at this year’s NI Health and Social Care awards. They are a shining example of our organisation’s dedicated and compassionate teams of staff and volunteers who every day make a difference to the lives of the most vulnerable in our communities.

“For our organisation to be named as winners in three of the top categories at this event is proof of how the Voluntary sector plays a crucial role in helping to transform lives every single day alongside our colleagues across the statutory services.”

He added: “Thank you to the judges and to the organisers of these fantastic awards which recognise the often-unsung heroes who are helping to make life better for people every single day.”

Danielle Finlay (second from right) with her award for Social Worker of the Year.

Mental Health Awareness Week

CCIS project opens its doors for ‘Meet the Team’ event The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Graham Warke, was among the guests for a very special ‘open day’ event at the offices of our lifesaving Community Crisis Intervention Service (CCIS) to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.

Located in the heart of the city of Derry-Londonderry, the CCIS project offers a nonclinical, community response to individuals experiencing social, emotional or situational crisis, and who may be at risk of suicidal behaviour. The service operates every weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, and over the past year alone, has recorded over 1,500 interventions with people who are at risk.

Alderman Warke paid tribute to the work of the project, saying: “Sadly, we know only too well the dreadful toll which suicide and poor mental health has taken on our city and the wider area. That is why projects such as CCIS are so important for the role they play in helping to support people who may be at their most vulnerable.

“I was delighted to be able to meet the dedicated team of professionals who are running this service and who are making such a difference to the lives of people who need support. I look forward to seeing the project continue to grow and flourish in the years to come.”

Launched as a pilot project in January 2019, the CCIS project was recently awarded a £500k funding package from the Department of Health, to enable it to continue its core work across weekends, as well as to develop an expanded programme of wraparound care for individuals engaged with the service. This includes providing ‘step down’ into accessible counselling and complementary therapy services in the local community, as well as promoting good mental health throughout the region.

Danny McQuillan, CEO of Extern, said: “The Community Crisis Intervention Service (CCIS) is playing a vital role in helping to tackle the issue of suicide and self-harm in Derry-Londonderry and Strabane.

“The investment of longer-term funding means we have been able to significantly develop our services for those who need them the most. By offering wraparound care for those we engage with we can ensure that they are given even more support in managing their mental health and wellbeing. Not only is this better for those who use CCIS, it can also play an important role in easing the pressure on other acute services within the Derry and Strabane area.”

Community teams support week of special events Staff and volunteers from our mental health projects across Belfast and East Antrim joined in with Mental Health Awareness Week with a series of events and activities aimed at promoting mental wellbeing.

Supporters from our Embrace open water swimming group in Larne got the week off to a brisk start with a special sunrise dip at Ballygally beach as part of the Darkness Into Light event. Formed by a number of our fantastic Community Champions, the group promotes the mental and physical benefits of cold water therapy and has attracted a loyal following of open water swim enthusiasts.

The importance of taking time out to share your worries or anxieties with others was also the focus of a number of Tea & Talk events during the week. We were very kindly welcomed into cafes in Larne and the Shankill to meet with the public and offer a listening ear, as well as signposting to services in the local area.

And we highlighted the impact of isolation and loneliness in rural areas across Northern Ireland with the publication of a new print and digital resource aimed at those living in more remote communities.

SAD FAREWELL TO MUCH CHERISHED COLLEAGUE

IVOR PAISLEY – MUST HOSTEL Extern would like to pay tribute to Ivor Paisley, former Chairman of the Mid-Ulster South Tyrone (MUST) Hostel, who has sadly passed away.

Ivor served the hostel voluntarily for two decades as Board Member, Treasurer and almost a decade as its Chairman. Alongside former hostel manager Lyndsey O’Neill, Ivor’s final act as Chairman was to oversee the hostel’s merger with Extern in 2019.

Ivor was a driving force at the hostel where he instilled an ethos of professionalism, and created a safe and structured environment built on compassion for its most vulnerable clients. Ivor played a very active role at the hostel, often taking the residents hillwalking and, where possible, helping some to find employment locally.

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of our dear friend and former colleague Ronnie Vellem.

Ronnie started in Extern’s Belfast-based Homeless Support Team in 2012 and, along with his colleagues, helped to set up the Refugee Floating Support Team.

Originally from Zimbabwe, which he was forced to flee during the Mugabe regime, Ronnie helped hundreds of people during his time with Extern, sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience. This helped Extern to become one of the most important providers of refugee services in Northern Ireland, and stands as Ronnie’s lasting legacy with Extern, and with all the other organisations he worked with.

His close colleague Ben Dench has described him as: “One of those modest, quiet heroes that keep everything going, that provide the altruistic scaffolding that props up society. His gentleness belied his immutability on topics of fairness. He was a rock when needed and he was soft when it was called for. The suffering that Ronnie alleviated is incalculable and I am a fortunate man to have been alongside him and seen for myself the tears of gratitude expressed towards him. He was truly a good human.”

Extern CEO Danny McQuillan also paid tribute to Ronnie as a devoted family man who made everyone he met feel better about themselves: “Everyone knew Ronnie and Ronnie was there for everyone, with his warm heart and a big laugh that could cheer you up in minutes. He had a profound impact upon the lives of those he met, and made such a positive contribution to the lives of those he supported through his work.”

After arriving in Northern Ireland, Ronnie began by volunteering with the NI Council for Ethnic Minorities, then helped found the NI Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, a refugee-led organisation supporting those going through the asylum process. Ronald then volunteered with the Law Centre and completed his law degree at the Open University.

More recently, Ronnie had also fought hard to ensure people on asylum support were included in the £100 high street voucher scheme.

We send our heartfelt condolences to his wife Lillian and the family, he will be sorely missed by us all.

Ivor firmly believed in developing the staff team and provided the previous manager Lyndsey O'Neill and current manager Jason Whatley with a great deal of support and mentoring. Ivor was often at the hostel and always spent time with staff and residents there. He was especially fond of chef Eva McKee’s home cooking and, despite token resistance, always sat down to thoroughly enjoy the meals she provided.

As a Christian, Ivor believed strongly in positive change and in providing an active example through his actions.

He was very proud of his family – wife Alex, son David, and daughters Katharine, Emily and Hannah, who is currently the senior project worker at the MUST Hostel.

Ivor will be sadly missed but fondly remembered by current and former members of staff.

He was well-loved and greatly respected by those whose lives he touched.

New horizons for groundbreaking programme Having transformed the lives of many young people and their families in Dublin over the past six years, the Bail Supervision Scheme is now bringing its unique approach towards youth justice to newly expanded delivery sites across Cork and Limerick too.

The Bail Supervision Scheme (BSS) began in 2016, when the then Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) commissioned Extern to provide a pilot scheme for young people attending the Dublin District Children’s Court (Court 55). The scheme was recently transferred to the Department of Justice who fund the BSS in all three of Extern’s current delivery sites.

Processes within the model allow for regular reviews with the therapist to assess strengths and needs, and provide support to address the identified needs. This equips the therapist with additional skills and knowledge they can use to support each young person and their family. This in turn increases the likelihood of a successful outcome to each case.

Ground-breaking in its approach, the scheme was aimed at keeping young people from being remanded in custody by granting them bail and thus able to be better engaged at home and in school or training. By reducing the need for remand places, this provides an opportunity to focus on developing successful community resources to prevent them from entering further down the path of criminality.

“It is an evidence-based model, so it’s not just about meeting up for a cup of tea and a chat,” explains Dublin BSS manager Hannah McCormack. “Every session and phone call has a purpose and is driven solely by the model. It is a very analytical process, everything that is agreed has been scrutinised by a range of different people.

From the outset, the scheme was a game-changer for the ways in which young people who were engaged within the criminal justice system – and their families – could be supported to make positive changes in their lives.

Some might have concluded that working with people already before the courts, sometimes for serious offences, could be a lost cause. After all, what could a third party organisation or agency offer where a young person’s family, friends or community had already been unable to find a solution?

BSS was different in a number of key ways, however, not least in the unique method of engagement which lies at its heart, known as Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST).

The MST model, which has been used by Extern since 2001, offers an intervention for children and young people aged 11-17, aimed at breaking cycles of anti-social behaviours by keeping them safely at home, in school, and out of trouble.

“Also, we work with a small caseload, the maximum for our therapists is five. That means it is very intensive, as we are meeting families 2-3 times a week. There is also a strong element of selfreflection, so if a family stop wanting to meet with us we look at what we can do in our approach to get them back on board.”

The teams have been able to benefit from advice from experienced MST consultants in England, as well as the ongoing support of the scheme’s commissioners in the Department of Justice.

The scheme has had a notable impact in the Dublin area since its launch, and an independent evaluation report released in 2019 found that there had been a 72 per cent reduction in reoffending among young people taking part. In comparison, a control group, who had been refused bail, had experienced a reduction in reoffending of only half the level of those engaged with BSS. The report further stated that there had been evidence of improved adherence to bail conditions among young people, as well as reduced levels of drug use and aggressive behaviour for some of those enrolled.

The project gained recognition both nationally, when it won the Civil Service Excellence and Innovation Award 2019, and internationally when it was selected to receive the 2019 Community Corrections Award at the Correctional Excellence Awards in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The latter awards are organised by the International Corrections & Prisons Association (ICPA), and the BSS was recognised for “exceptional work and innovative approaches in supporting offenders in the community”.

Such strong evidence of success – backed up by glowing feedback from many of those engaged on the programme, as well as partner agencies – gave Extern a strong footing for consideration when it was announced that the scheme would be rolled out farther afield. Following successful bids for those tenders, new teams were set up to establish the project in Cork and Limerick. This also included expanding the Dublin project across a much wider area, to include courts in towns such as Bray, Trim, Naas and Drogheda.

The project has also been enhanced by the addition of a strand which builds upon the work of Extern’s Janus Justice programme, which had already been running in the Limerick area for a number of years.

Where the MST element is designed for young people who are living at home with a caregiver, the Janus Justice model caters for young people who are living in residential care, supported accommodation or living independently (i.e. not living at home with a caregiver).

Providing an individual 1-1 key-working service, this new element has been designed to bridge a gap which had been identified for a section of hard-to-reach young people who required support but who did not fit the criteria for MST.

Feedback from referring professionals has been extremely positive to date and the dedication of the Janus Justice workers has been highlighted in professional evaluations.

Having a successful precedent in the Dublin scheme has also been a boost to the teams setting up in Cork and Limerick.

“We would use Dublin as an example of the project working well when we are going out on home visits,” explains Michelle Kennedy, who manages the Limerick-based project. “As the Cork and Limerick projects are still at a relatively early stage, we don’t have outcomes yet, so the success of the Dublin project and the evaluation report are so important.”

While the Coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on service delivery for other projects in terms of being able to engage faceto-face, BSS was fortunate in being able to continue delivery in person, ensuring that it could have the maximum impact for those it supports.

“Thankfully our service delivery was not badly affected by Covid,” says Janice Hickey, manager of the Cork project. “It would have been great to have been able to do a proper launch at the beginning and have those meetings in person with other agencies. But thankfully we had the exemptions which allowed us to be able to deliver face-to-face, which was so important.”

With the projects now up and running in each of these new areas, work is ongoing to generate new referrals which, given the innovative nature of the programme, is a slow but steady process.

“It’s such a massive service which has never been in these places before, so people are understandably taking time with it,” says Hannah. “The hope is now that in 2022 we can begin to really get down to it and make Bail Supervision a continued success in supporting people to change their lives for the better.”

BAIL SUPERVISION... A PARENT'S PERSPECTIVE “The Bail Supervision Scheme transformed things for my family. We really benefitted from the one-to-one, hands-on approach that allowed us to pick up the phone at any time to talk to our Multi-Systemic Therapist. We really felt like we were a priority to them; other services had made promises, but never lived up to what they said. Our therapist did everything he said he would do, and never fobbed us off. Bail Supervision helped open my son’s eyes to the benefit of letting people who want to help you into your life and putting your trust in them.”

Parent of service user, Bail Supervision Scheme, Dublin (From left) Tina O'Reilly,

VOLUNTEER CAMPAIGN ROLLS OUT TO ROI

Community Fridge gives food for thought in Larne Extern volunteer Lynsey Poole has been helping to keep stomachs full with the launch of a new Community Fridge in the Larne area.

Community Fridges are a platform for sharing surplus food within a community to reduce food waste going to landfill. They are not means tested and are open to all. They differ from the vital role Food Banks play, but can often be a complementary provision.

Lynsey, who is Chairperson of Larne Area Community Support Group, as well as a volunteer Community Champion with Extern, played a leading role in helping to bring the project to fruition. As well as the fridge and accompanying pantry, the site includes a small community garden, which can be used to grow vegetables and serves as a focal point for rest and relaxation for people living locally.

The project was made possible through funding from the Department of Communities Covid-19 Food Partnership, Extern’s Communities in Transition project, and the Northern Ireland Executive. It is just the latest example of the very active role our Community Champions and volunteers have been playing in the area in recent years.

Danny McQuillan, CEO of Extern, said: “We were delighted to work alongside Larne Area Community Support Group and Council on this initiative. As well as the many environmental benefits of a Community Fridge, there are also far-reaching health and wellbeing benefits. As one of the leading providers of mental health services in Northern Ireland, we understand only too well the impact which the past two years have had on people’s wellbeing. That is why initiatives such as this are much-needed after such a difficult period in which we have seen social isolation and loneliness increase.”

Almost a year after it was first launched, our Extern Extras volunteer recruitment campaign has reached out into the Republic of Ireland for the first time.

The campaign sought volunteers with a passion for the arts, sport and outdoor pursuits, or health and wellbeing to share their skills and deliver special workshops for vulnerable and marginalised children and young people across areas including Cavan, Leitrim Dundalk and Drogheda.

The new role of Youth Engagement Volunteer is focussed on people with knowledge, skills and experience in areas such as music, drama, outdoor pursuits, or cookery, among others, to deliver fun and engaging workshops and activities to young people who are vulnerable or marginalised, offering hope and inspiring them to develop their skills and interests.

This formed part of a wider recruitment drive which also included Northern Ireland, and the campaign received a fantastic response, with 17 passionate new volunteers from across the island of Ireland now being recruited to the programme across seven departments in a variety of roles. These included Telephone Befriender, LAC Mentor, Caterer, Youth Engagement volunteer and the newly developed Drug and Alcohol Support role.

The new cohort of volunteers join an existing group of dedicated and committed volunteers and Community Champions whose fantastic volunteer work has already made a huge contribution to the service provision of numerous departments.

Volunteer Coordinator Caoimhe Cregan said: “We are so thrilled with the success of our most recent campaign and we have been overwhelmed and humbled by the personal stories and motivations which have led the new volunteers to join the Extern team. The wealth of skills, knowledge and experience which the volunteers will bring to the staff teams and clients is invaluable and we are delighted to see this continued growth.”

The newest volunteers will undergo induction training before meeting with their volunteer supervisors and finding out more about the lifechanging work they will be doing with our teams.

Changing Lives Together

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR PROBLEM GAMBLING TEAM The dangers of online betting for young people have been the focus of a series of new classroom-based workshops across the Republic.

Our Problem Gambling project has been delivering sessions to students at secondary schools in areas including Donegal, Cavan, Westmeath, Kildare, Dublin and Wicklow, among others, to highlight the impact which problem gambling can have on individuals, families and communities. Funding for the workshops has been provided through the HSE National Lottery Grants scheme.

messages on a daily basis about gambling, whether through sports advertising and sponsorships, online through social media, or even through certain popular video games which offer rewards for investing money. This can often lead to issues with gambling in later life. Indeed, we often find that many of the people we counsel as adults will have begun gambling during adolescence.

The legal age for gambling in Ireland is currently 18. However, recent statistics have shown that the problem gambling rate among teenage boys in Ireland has more than doubled in the last 4-5 years, and that just over 3,400 Irish schoolchildren aged 1516 may be gambling either problematically or excessively.

“These schools-based sessions offer an opportunity for us to engage with young people, in a completely non-judgmental way, about these issues and encourage them to reflect on how they may be impacted by gambling, even if they are not aware of it.

We have been covering areas such as spotting the warning signs of problem gambling, and the common psychological issues which allow people to continue gambling even when it becomes a problem.”

Barry Grant, manager of the Extern Problem Gambling project, said: “Young people in our communities are exposed to

MENTAL HEALTH WEBINARS A HIT WITH THE PUBLIC The sessions were held to promote Extern’s Feel Better service, which has been offering free online and face-to-face counselling to those who may experiencing issues such as anxiety, increased worry or poor mental health.

Barry said that the popularity of the workshops reflected what has been an incredibly challenging time for people, with many being reluctant to reach out for advice or support.

Delivered by Extern counsellors Barry Grant and Tony O’Reilly, the sessions attracted dozens of attendees, and covered a range of themes, including Why Mental Health Matters, Keeping Problem Gambling in the Past, and How to Live with Loss. A further session themed around Blue Monday – the ‘saddest’ day of the year – attracted a particularly large audience in January.

“These online sessions offered a relaxed, non-judgmental forum for people to learn how to cope with whatever may be challenging their mental health or general wellbeing, as well as being able to share their own experiences of mental health or other issues,” he said.

A series of online counselling sessions aimed at tackling poor mental health have proven to be a big hit with members of the public.

Celebrating a happy Space As the Third Space programme concludes its activities after four years, we look back at how it has transformed lives for the better.

Staff and young people celebrated the conclusion of Third Space with a special event at their Belfast offices

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earning to adapt to the unexpected is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges when it comes to working in the community and voluntary sector, such are the varying and ever-changing needs of the people who require support.

Developing a programme of activity which could positively engage young people was also a challenge, especially given the competing demands on their time and attention from school, family and peer groups.

And such flexibility has been the cornerstone of the work of the Third Space project, which has formally concluded after almost four years of supporting hundreds of vulnerable and marginalised young people.

The engagement of Verbal arts, the principal arts organisation on the island of Ireland for literature and storytelling, provided a vital avenue for the young people to harness the power of the arts to learn, develop and grow throughout the programme. This was achieved through activities such as video production workshops, which not only gave young people skills in creating digital content, but also allowed them the opportunity to share their own life experiences on camera. Another strand was Verbal’s Reading Rooms, which uses short stories and poetry as a tool to facilitate meaningful conversations amongst participants.

Launched in April 2018, the project has aimed to positively transform the lives of young people aged between 14-24, allowing those from different communities, cultural, and religious backgrounds, and rural areas, to undertake a personalised self-development and training programme.

The project has been delivered in conjunction with partner agency Verbal, an organisation promoting the power of the spoken and written word, and supported through €3.99m of EU funding under the European Union's PEACE IV programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

Where many youth work projects are often focused on urban and inner-city areas, Third Space deliberately looked outside such traditional focal points to support those living in more widely spread communities where facilities for young people were perhaps not as plentiful or easily accessible.

“That rural nature was always going to be a challenge, and we knew that from the start,” says Programme Manager Mark Rogers. “That was one of the things that we had to work really hard at in the early stages because everybody, when they talk about such programmes, seems to be referring to the cities. We found very early on that that wasn’t going to be the case for Third Space. We had to bring services right out to where we could get young people in a certain area.”

“Streamlining youth work with art can be a very good tool to make change,” explains Third Space manager Joanna Tarach. “It can be quite powerful when you have a group of people with different interests, as it taps into the sense of creativity that is naturally there with young people. It’s an interesting way of adding value to youth work.”

Extern itself was able to link in with many of its own established projects and facilities to support, including Roscor Youth Village in Co Fermanagh, which provided residential breaks to develop and deepen the cross-community relationships which are so central to the programme.

With the arrival of the Covid pandemic midway through the programme, maintaining the interest of so many young people across three main sites in Belfast, Derry-Londonderry and the South-West was also a challenging prospect. The dedication of Extern and Verbal’s teams in continuing to deliver the project was a big part of ensuring its success throughout those difficult early days of Covid and into the ensuing years.

Councillor John Kyle was among the guests at the celebration event for the On the Right Track! project'

Fun and fond memories at PCP wrap-up event I

Almost overnight, staff had to develop imaginative solutions to replace the traditional face-to-face delivery offered by the project, with ideas including ‘virtual’ dog walks, live cookery sessions on the internet, personal challenges and tasks for each young person, aimed at developing their resilience. Staff also continued to deliver one-to-one talking sessions with young people who may have been feeling anxiety and uncertainty over the rapid change to their lifestyles and daily routines.

“The teams were absolutely incredible, both for the quality of their work and their creativity,” says Joanna. “Even during the hardest times they stayed, and never thought about stopping.

“Previous participants came back every week to tell us how Third Space had helped them through some of the most challenging times of their lives, to find a path to further education, or out of homelessness. There were so many personal stories, and the impact that our teams had on the young people was incredible.”

With PEACE IV now set to be succeeded by a new PEACE PLUS programme, it is hoped that elements of what made Third Space such a success may be taken forward into a new project at some stage in the future.

And as the programme draws to a close, all involved are able to look back on the past four years with a strong sense of achievement.

“We never embarked on anything we felt we could never do,” says Mark Rogers. “There were always challenges but that’s part and parcel of the work we do in this sector. It’s about trying to think outside the box and break the mould and do things differently.”

t was a memorable evening for some of our young people as they joined with staff and supporters to mark the conclusion of our PEACE IV-funded On the Right Track! Personal Change Programme following three successful years of service delivery.

Around a dozen young ‘graduates’ of the programme were guests of honour at the event which was held at The MAC theatre in Belfast. A number of the young people shared their stories of success and how their involvement with the project has given them a more positive outlook on life.

Launched in 2019, the project operates on a cross-community basis to explore issues of equality, identity, diversity and peace-building. In particular, it focuses on young people who have been involved in the youth justice system for incidents related to sectarianism, interface issues and hate crime. The main aim of the programme has been to provide support to change the behaviours of the young people taking part by exploring and challenging the underlying and fundamental values that they hold.

Among the guests at the celebration event were Councillor John Kyle, Chair of Belfast City Council’s Shared City Partnership, who congratulated staff on the success of the programme and presented the young people with special certificates of achievement.

CEO of Extern, Danny McQuillan, said: “We are so proud of everything these young people have achieved through this fantastic, life-changing programme over the past three years. That many of them managed to do so against the backdrop of the recent Covid pandemic and its many restrictions speaks to their dedication and hard work.

The project was part of Belfast City Council’s PEACE IV Plan, which is financed through the European Union and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). Match-funding for the PEACE IV Action plan was provided by The Executive Office in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.

Getting to know you...

We love hearing about how Extern can change lives, not only for our service users but for our staff and volunteers as well. This month we meet Paul Kiernan, who manages two of our young people and families projects in Bray, Co Wicklow.

Hi Paul! Tell us how you came to join Extern?

I was working as an outdoor pursuits instructor for a number of years, and one of the most rewarding parts of my job was coaching youth groups. I made the decision that I wanted to work with young people in a more holistic way, so I went back to college to study Youth and Community Work. I started with Extern in a part-time position in 2008 during my final year in college and have worked here ever since, in a number of different roles.

What made you want to work for Extern?

I was very interested in Extern’s resiliency approach to working with young people and also because they targeted hard to reach young people who might not have the capacity to attend mainstream youth services.

What sort of work do you and your team do on a day-to-day basis?

I am currently the Service Manager with the East Coast Bray Janus and Independent Home Support Service (IHSS) teams. The projects’ aims are to work with young people and their families who have been identified to be at risk and referred to us by TUSLA. They also help children to develop their sense of community and their social skills through different activities.

Our Janus team offers one-to-one informal counselling for the young people involved. This means that key workers come to the young person’s home and collect them, at a time that suits them, removing any traditional barriers which may arise from having to go to a centre. Our IHSS team work more closely with the parents and families.

The Extern teams will work alongside other community organisations and statutory bodies to make the services as holistic as possible. It is also introducing young people to activities and interests which they may not have previously known how to access, including specific sports, art and music.

What areas do you cover geographically – and is it a challenge to cover such a wide area?

We cover South Dublin and Wicklow, which is quite a large and densely populated geographic area, so there can be a lot of driving involved!

What kind of insight has working with Extern given you into the world of social care?

What I have found is that the mix of qualifications of staff members is one of its strengths. The majority of staff are trained in social care but we also have youth workers, teachers, therapists and many more. The mix of these different perspectives and expertise strengthens the service we can offer clients.

What are the particular challenges faced by the people you work with in your area?

These can range from lack of belief in self and low expectation in life, to negative cultures in communities, economically disadvantaged areas, and things like cannabis use.

What are the qualities you need to do your job?

Lots of patience, a non-judgmental outlook, enthusiasm, curiosity and a good sense of humour. Working with young people and families that are hard to engage with requires a certain amount of perseverance and the ability not to take rejection personally. However, if you allow people time and space, mixed with good relationship-building skills to get them to engage in the very important ‘first session’, you have already achieved a lot. It is important that each subsequent session has an objective; this objective might not be met, or have to be dropped or changed, but that’s okay.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

What I enjoy most is when change happens. This is when something switches or shifts in a young person’s view of a situation. It might take a while for this to happen but when it does there is suddenly a fork in the road which presents and which hopefully, and with the right support, will lead to a better outcome.

Have you ever had any interesting or unusual stories you can share with us?

On my way to my first ever team meeting with Extern I drove down into an underground car park before realising that I was in the wrong place. I turned around and found that the gate was closed. So I spent the first half of my first meeting with my new team trapped in an underground car park with no phone coverage. I thought to myself ‘I’m not going to last too long in this job’. That was nearly 15 years ago.

And what do you like to do when you’re not at work?

I like sailing, going to Leinster matches, kayaking, hiking and going on nice holidays.

But most of all I love just spending time with my family.

OPINION: Coming out of Covid More than two years on from the arrival of Coronavirus here, Director of Services for Extern Ireland Leslieann Scott looks at how the pandemic has impacted Extern, and the ways in which we have learned from the experience.

I

t is hard to imagine that we could ever have seen any benefits to the Coronavirus pandemic, such has been its profound impact on our lives, our relationships, and our work over the past two years.

And yet, as we continue to emerge from its worst ravages - hopefully for the last time - there is much we can reflect upon that has shaped the way we work for the better.

When Covid first hit our shores in March 2020, we were on something of an upward trajectory in many of our service offerings.

Our Bail Supervision Scheme had successfully tendered for expansion to Cork and Limerick, following a positive evaluation report in late 2019. Our Janus project had recently opened in Galway and Roscommon, and we were poised to launch two new Communities in Transition projects in Derry-Londonderry and East Antrim/Greater Belfast. Many other projects were bedding in well and making great in-roads in supporting people in need across our many locations.

So much of what we were achieving and were about to achieve was effectively halted by the brick wall that was Covid. And yet we went on to accomplish so much, as projects continued to deliver, new services were launched, and new colleagues welcomed into our organisation.

Perhaps the most noticeable change to our way of working was the move to online delivery, both with service users and among teams.

Few of us can be in any doubt of the difficulties which we would have faced in realising our goals without the benefit of simple, costeffective platforms such as MS Teams or Zoom. Quite simply these opened a new world of connectivity which has brought Extern into the 21st Century.

On a practical level, it has saved so much in terms of time and resources. Even the most routine of meetings once involved hours of travel for many of us - myself included, as I often had to endure lengthy early morning journeys, where now I can simply log on remotely. I can also link with services and commissioners in multiple geographic locations all in one day rather than it taking multiple days.

Such an unprecedented ability to connect with others has had a positive impact for many of our projects too. For example, our Problem Gambling service has been able to widen out its geographical reach from one corner of Ireland thanks to modern technology.

Online delivery also helped to fill some of the gaps in engaging with young people and families which had manifested during the more restrictive periods of lockdown (although this also revealed the issue of ‘digital poverty’ which was a significant barrier for so many).

While it has undoubtedly proven very useful, our enforced switch to new technology has nevertheless demonstrated just how valuable face-to-face human interaction can be. It is often in those unscripted moments – chats with colleagues before and after meetings, car journeys or activities with a young person – where some of our most quietly impactful work is done.

Those informal points of contact are what bind people together and what enable us to anticipate issues before they become bigger problems. With our greater connectivity we must never lose sight of that ‘social’ aspect of work, which lifts our workplace experience above just being a job.

We can also begin to support our service users to reconnect within their communities, and wider society. Our community-based services had to adopt one-to-one working, over traditional groupbased models, when possible, to protect everyone from the spread of Covid. However, it is through our connection with others that we flourish, gain new skills, collectively problem-solve, and gain personal insights through our interactions.

T

hankfully as we begin to return to offices – albeit on a phased or rota basis – we can begin to rebuild those important personal relationships. Myself and my colleagues in the Strategic Leadership Team are also eager to get back to visiting our much-valued teams to offer reassurance, support and, most of all, our heartfelt thanks to those who have continued to carry out – and often exceed – their duties with absolute professionalism during what has been the most challenging period in Extern’s recent history.

As the landscape across Ireland and the UK seems to have begun shifting towards a new balanced model of hybrid working, this will hopefully allow for a natural connection to return between colleagues, as well as frontline teams and service users. On a practical level too, it will allow teams to complete their case notes and paperwork in a more flexible manner, rather than having to be physically present in their offices as before.

Getting this balance right will be crucial and must serve the needs of all.

Extern engaging

The easing of lockdown restrictions across NI and ROI from the New Year onwards has seen a gradual return to face-to-face public engagement at a range of events.

Our colleagues working with young people and families marked Children’s Mental Health Week in February with a range of activities aimed at highlighting the issues faced by so many, especially during the past two years of Covid.

Our Mentoring Support team used the ‘Take 5’ idea - Give, Be active, Connect, Keep learning, Take notice - to develop special sessions for the young people they support. The team organised a mindfulness activity, creating space for young people to talk about their support networks and who they feel helps them grow emotionally.

Extern’s Communications team joined forces with our HR department to promote the organisation’s work at a special Health and Social Care fair at Belfast Metropolitan College’s Titanic Campus. We took the opportunity to meet with the next generation of social care workers and share how Extern is making a difference to the lives of people across a range of projects.

The Titanic Quarter was also the location of a very special ‘meet and greet’ event for our Refugee Resettlement Service, when they came face-to-face with Prince Charles as part of his four-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic with The Duchess of Cornwall. The Prince spoke to two refugees as well as staff about how the team works intensively with individuals and families from point of arrival, providing holistic assessment of needs, practical support and link-up with services to help them resettle here.

The importance of maintaining good physical and mental health was also the focus for staff from our Community Crisis Intervention Service (CCIS) project in the NorthWest and our Ballymena-based Low Threshold Drug and Alcohol team during a special health fair in Derry-Londonderry. The teams met with a range of visitors to the event, offering advice and signposting to services which offer support.

Extern’s mental health teams in Northern Ireland were also among the guests at a pre-election Hustings event organised by Samaritans and Start 360. The event featured a cross-party panel of politicians who discussed the challenges faced by both statutory and voluntary organisations in tackling the issue of suicide in Northern Ireland.

There was a further opportunity for political engagement as Barry Grant, manager of ROI-based Extern Problem Gambling, joined representatives from the Gambling Awareness Trust, the Institute of Public Health and the Department of Justice for pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Gambling Regulation Bill. The session provided an excellent opportunity to get the views of those who are calling for this legislation as a way of ensuring gambling organisations are held to the highest standards possible in order to protect consumers and support those who engage in harmful gambling activity.

To mark International Women’s Day in March, Extern’s Drogheda-based Intensive Family Support Service (IFFS) organised an event (right) to highlight the support services in the area for women who are affected by genderbased violence. Project manager Liz Cronin spoke about Extern’s support of community safety in the area, and discussed the issue of drug debt and intimidation, and the coercive control of women.

Our staff also took to the airwaves to comment upon and promote a number of important initiatives and events. Barry Grant spoke to host Frank Mitchell on his U105 show about maintaining good mental health on Blue Monday – the ‘saddest’ day of the year – ahead of the last in a series of mental health webinars to promote our Feel Better project.

The latest drug deaths statistics for Northern Ireland also provided an important opportunity to speak about our support for those dealing with problem substance usage. Iain Cameron from our Belfast office spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about a rise in drug deaths in Northern Ireland and how we are working to support those facing addiction issues.

And Ken Keane, Assistant Manager of our Third Space programme, was invited to discuss the success of the programme on Northern Sound radio in Co Cavan, where the project has been particularly successful in bringing together young people from across both sides of the border.

Competition time: Answer the question to win a prize!

The winner of the last competition in our November newsletter was Margaret Maguire from our Janus Bray & Janus South Central Dublin team.

And you can be in with a chance of winning a £50/€60 gift card by answering the following simple question, the answer to which can be found in this edition: Which member of the Royal Family met with our refugee project staff in Belfast recently?

A) Prince Charles B) Princess Anne C) Prince William

Simply send your answer in an email to the Comms Team at: comms@extern.org, with the subject line ‘Newsletter Competition’.

Closing date for entries is Wednesday, August 31st.

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