Offering a haven of hope

Our fundraising work continued to grow with the launch of a new island-wide campaign to support young people

The Spring saw the launch of our new Safe Haven Appeal, raising funds for our respite centres across Northern Ireland and the Republic. The appeal (right) ran through to Christmas and was successful in raising nearly £20,000 to support our work with vulnerable children.

Support for the campaign came from local businesses including AXA NI and AllState, as well as via our ongoing partnership with Ulster Rugby, who supported the appeal throughout the year, organising collections at matches, and a staff Christmas Jumper Day. The club also helped secure a fantastic donation from the Curran Family Foundation and arranged the fabulous Bangor RFC choir to perform and collect at a number of events throughout the runup to Christmas.

It was a busy year for community-based activity too, with a growing number of enthusiastic individuals and community groups raising funds and awareness for Extern, despite the ongoing

We also received support from a number of sporty fundraisers, including Jordan Gough, who took to the pavements for the Belfast Marathon, raising an incredible £3,037 in memory of his

Jake Bainbridge, who organised a five-aside football tournament in the community, raised a fantastic £400 in celebration of World Mental Health Day. And a hardy group of fundraisers –including some staff members - braved dizzying heights to abseil 100ft down the iconic fairytale tower at Belfast Castle (left). Together the group raised a fantastic £2,190 towards our Safe Havens, enabling Extern to keep helping local children in

Online fundraising also played an important role in our work, with Larne

To Provide Vital Supports To Young People This Year

As we entered another year the ongoing Covid pandemic continued to pose difficulties for those we support through our Belfast-based MFMO project.

We witnessed an increase in young people and their families experiencing financial hardship, young people becoming increasingly anxious, family discord and breakdown, and young people expressing suicidal ideation.

In response, our team provided supports with crisis payments for food and utilities, as well as helping young people to access digital equipment to allow them to continue engaging remotely with our services during the lockdown. The team also provided additional peer mentor support to those experiencing high levels of anxiety and social isolation, as well as helping to facilitate family mediation and, where necessary, housing relocation.

Key activities were delivered through mentoring support and tailored to individual need through agreed action plans. These were then delivered in a flexible manner to adapt to personal circumstances, provide individual support and meet developmental needs.

Activities included both individual and groupwork programmes, with the aim of addressing barriers to

A core part of the MFMO project is providing informed advice and guidance to young people and signposting them to the support services they need. To this end, MFMO have established connections with other organisations across education, training and the voluntary and community sector.

Overall, the team had a positive impact, supporting a total of 119 young people throughout the year. A total of 80 qualifications were achieved, with almost half of those supported going on to training or further education and a fifth finding employment.

Throughout the year MFMO staff and a core group of young people took part in a wider collaboration at a national and international level as part of an ERASMUS project to develop a new mentoring handbook which includes a transition support plan detailing each individual young person’s support networks.

Meetings between the young person, their mentor and their training organisation also ensured consistency of support for young people as they progressed in their further education and training.

In addition to this, mentors provided advocacy support for all of the young people on the programme. This can take on many forms to include housing issues, mental

I was having difficulties at school due to bullying and anxiety, so when it came to moving on to college at first I rejected any help I was being offered. I was referred to Extern’s Moving Forward, Moving On project and slowly I began to open up to my keyworker.

I soon realised that the course I was on wasn’t right for me, so my keyworker and I spent a lot of time looking at my other choices. By this stage I trusted them enough to talk about the problems I was facing with drugs and my mental health. They helped me access counselling where I could talk through my issues.

After a few more mentoring sessions with them I decided I wanted to become a hairdresser and I enrolled on a training course, which I really enjoyed.

My home life took a turn for the worse, however, after I fell out with my mum due to the living conditions within our home. I wasn’t able to stay with her anymore and moved in with a friend. My keyworker was such a big help, though. They arranged emergency meetings to try and resolve the issues I had been facing at home – some of which were the reason I had been bullied at school. We managed to get practical support to make the house more liveable, and I was able to move back in again.