Highlights of 2021-22

from Extern Northern Ireland Annual Report 2021-22

by Sharon Hearty

The Extern Diﬀerence

1,478 people directly supported through our homeless services

There was good news for our ground-breaking Community Crisis Intervention Service with the announcement of £500k of funding to expand its services. Initially launched as a pilot project in 2019, the funding allows the Derry-Londonderry based project to continue its core work supporting people facing suicide as well as providing wraparound services to those with a variety of needs.

Our Innis and Dismas hostel teams were among the winners of the Adult Services of the Year award at the NI Social Work Awards, along with Kristina Januleviciute from our Linx team in the Children Services Social Worker of the Year category. And there was success for our Ormeau Centre team at the 2022 NI Health & Social Care Awards (above) when they took home the prize for Supported Living Service of the Year. Drugs outreach team member Neil Potter was also named Volunteer of the Year, while Danielle Finlay, from our Regional Homeless Support Team, was awarded Social Worker of the Year.

The launch of our new Extern Extras volunteer campaign met with a great response in May, with expressions of interest and applications received for a variety of roles, including telephone befrienders and drug outreach workers. The campaign has since been rolled out to the Republic of Ireland.

18,728

We celebrated the successful conclusion of a number of high-proﬁle projects funded under the PEACE IV programme during 2021-22. The Third Space and Back on Track projects both supported young people with varied programmes of workshops, mentoring and engagement activities. And our Positive Learning project in Derry-Londonderry supported almost 300 people in building good relations and developing

We welcomed Ulster Rugby back as our charity partners for another year, following two very successful years of support from players and staff alike at the club. The main areas of focus for the partnership were once again on promoting our mental health services and highlighting the importance of sport and team activities in tackling loneliness.