‘We’re facing huge issues at the moment keeping kids in school’: Meet three Irish groups making a difference to young people’s lives

This article is part of a series curated by students and recent graduates from colleges and universities in Ireland
Offering young people a sense of community, support and respect is key to helping them achieve in life: here we profile three organisations striving to create positive change in Ireland.
Irish medical students are finding the time to give back. Street Doctors, inspired by a British charity, was set up in Ireland in 2013 by four Trinity College Dublin medical students who have since become fully fledged doctors. Their mission for the organisation is to teach life-saving first-aid classes to young people at risk of violence. Often class attendees, mostly aged 13-18, are just a few years younger than the medical students.
Two first-aid classes are taught by Street Doctors in Dublin, one that offers advice if someone is bleeding and a second that offers instruction on what to do if someone is unconscious. For many of the people who take the classes, these are not unfamiliar realities.
“Unfortunately, a lot of them would have lost loved ones to violence or know people who have experienced violence,” says Lisa Cordos, student manager with Street Doctors. Young people are taught to “recognise medical emergencies and call for help, and if it’s safe to do so, possibly intervene themselves”.
Street Doctors is run on a voluntary basis with the majority of the volunteers being medical students from Trinity and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
To help persuade other students to get involved, members of the committee use word of mouth, as well as recruiting via their lectures or friend groups. They have a constant cycle of fresh volunteers as one college year ends and a new one begins each September. Many of the people who attend find out about the classes through community or detention centres such as Oberstown.
Building rapport and a sense of mutual respect with the attendees of the classes, some of whom have suffered great trauma in their lives, is critical to Street Doctors’ success. “A lot of these young people come from backgrounds where they might not have been appreciated as individuals and given reassurance,” says Cordos. “We make sure they’re valued as individuals.”
In interactive sessions, they ask the young people about their past experiences with violence, ending their sessions by saying, “What would you do differently? Would you call for help?”
Along with first-aid skills, Street Doctors also clear up some of the “misconceptions around helping out” in medical emergencies. Often class attendees, says Cordos, “think they’re going to get into trouble with the law” if they try to assist when faced with a violent situation. Street Doctors also advise on how they can intervene in medical emergencies even if it’s just placing an anonymous call for help.
While student volunteers often find their first session daunting or intimidating, Cordos says there’s a “mutually beneficial” aspect to Street Doctors. “Being involved with Street Doctors has helped me become more compassionate, caring and considerate,” she says, adding that it also teaches students like herself to distil the skills they have absorbed and offer it to “people who are hopefully able to apply them in a practical way”.
The charity has plans to expand beyond Trinity and RCSI in the coming years, looking towards universities such as UCD. Cordos encourages medical students to get involved and to be “mindful of the people that they cross and the different factors in their lives that contribute to the way they act, the way they feel, the way they look”, something Street Doctors has helped her to do.
“You don’t have to be a street doctor to carry the ethos of being inclusive and considerate,” she says, adding that often the people who require the most amount of help “are the ones least likely to get it”. Kate Henshaw
If you wander to the side of Thomond Park in Limerick on a day when it’s not rammed with rugby fans, you might stumble upon Northside Youth Space. This Limerick Youth Service branch – nestled strategically within walking distance of Thomondgate, Ballynanty, Moyross, Ennis Road and Caherdavin – casts a wide net to provide vital services for Limerick’s youth.
Education and training are on offer to young people aged 10-24 years of age. “Programmes can be on wellbeing, healthy eating, equine skills, homework clubs, art, sport, music, leadership skills,” says Dermot Troy, youth information and communications co-ordinator. “While the youth clubs or cafes are more informal, projects can be more structured.”
One of those projects is the youth diversion project offered by Northside Youth Space, which aims to take young people away from negative influences. One of the key team members rolling out the project is Billy Barrett, a volunteering and youth services veteran, who started working at Northside Youth Space when it opened its doors in 2016.
“The Youth Diversion project used to be called the Garda Youth Diversion project, and thank God it isn’t any more,” says Barrett, laughing. He says young people are more likely to engage with the project once it’s dissociated from the Gardaí.
“We get referrals from the juvenile liaison officer for young people that might be on the verge of offending or who’ve been cautioned. The programme is in place to literally divert them from getting into more trouble. It has been working really well. It has a proven outcome of young people staying out of trouble.”
The project provides young people, aged 12-17, the support of a youth justice worker and a dedicated family support worker, allowing participants to take part in a diverse range of youth work programmes and activities – everything from music to mental health classes.
Although the project is also open to young women, at the moment it’s mostly young men who avail of the services. Barrett speaks with warmth about the many young men who have received guidance through the programmes, leaving antisocial behaviour behind them, and moving on to full-time employment or a return to education following their time in the Youth Diversion project. This has been made possible in part by their close links with places like the Technological University of the Shannon and the Limerick and Clare Training and Education Board.
There are two key elements to this, says Barrett. One is working with the young person’s family. “There are three family support workers now working with us. Before they came on board, a lot of our time and training was taken up with families that were struggling. We link in with them very closely, and they are a huge help. It’s great that they can identify if there’s any other children within the family that may be struggling as well, and we can get them involved with the Youth Service to keep them out of trouble.”
Another is getting them involved in group work. “The project is particularly successful when the lads all click together as a group. If we can get them working in groups, it does help a lot. We bring them in to give them a bit of food first, and they can relax, play a game of pool or whatever. And then we try get them into the other side of it, to a bit of work too.”
The Youth Diversion Project works in partnership with the Irish Youth Justice Service and An Garda Síochána, and is part supported by the Irish Government and the European Social Fund.
“Our main objective engaging with kids in this space is to keep them in school,” says Barrett. “That’s something we’re facing huge issues with at the moment.” limerickyouthservice.com Molly Cantwell
“You can see a better world for yourself and others when your creativity is being nurtured.”
Those are the words of Al Dalton, a writer, facilitator and marketing officer at Graffiti Theatre Company, an institution in Cork for 40 years, which delivers theatre productions for young audiences, creative learning workshops, writing programmes, weekly youth theatre and early years arts experiences.
They offer opportunities for attendees up to 18 years, helping children across Cork to find their voice and develop their values and creativity through their educational arts programmes.
“When you start working with young people, you ask yourself, ‘What can I bring to this group?’” says Dalton. “Mostly you just need to listen to them first and check where they are at, and you’ll know what approach is best. It’s about empowering them in their own voice, so they feel comfortable to say what they want.
“I believe everyone is creative,” he says. “When you observe a baby interested in a game, their sense of imagination comes quite naturally. I find babies fascinating in the way they experience arts and play. You see all the potential. Teenagers can be challenging but they are incredibly funny.”
For Dalton, it is also important to help the young participants develop their own instincts. “They need to know that there is no silly idea, no stupid question,” he says. “That gives them a safe place to start. It’s especially important as, in Ireland, we have a tradition of earning the respect of adults first and allowing the voices of children to be heard only after. I personally treat them like my fellow artists and give them respect right from the beginning.”
In his view, there are times when adults can learn from the natural creativity of children. “As adults, we lose contact with creativity, some more than others. Our sense of play is maybe a bit hidden. We also live in societies where institutions and education systems tend to hide that creativity. Fortunately, arts and play are becoming more and more important in the curriculum nowadays.”
Graffiti was founded in 1984 by Emelie FitzGibbon, with the mission of ensuring that every child had access to arts and culture. Over the years, Graffiti’s work has reached thousands of children, sparking their creativity and intellect. I ask Dalton if he believes theatre activities can really have a lasting impact, helping those children for their adult lives too?
“Yes. I have never heard someone who said they wasted their time going to youth theatre. Arts is a living arts form, almost a living organism. What we do at Graffiti becomes a microcosm of the society where we have to develop interpersonal relationships, collaboration, listening skills etc. All of this requires empathy and creativity. And we need creativity in this world. We need people who can think outside the box.”
In its four decades of existence, Graffiti has operated in a changing world culturally. Does Dalton think that youth theatre in Ireland is inclusive enough in terms of diversity, religion and cultural background? “It’s becoming more and more inclusive,” he says. “In the last 20 years, the landscape in Ireland has changed with diverse populations coming in. Immigrants start acclimating to the curriculum system and then, some look for extracurricular activities for their children. It is incredible to see that what we are doing at Graffiti is resonating with them.”
Are youth theatre facilitators well equipped for those changing cultural landscapes? “People are becoming more trained, but it depends on where you’re located as well,” says Dalton. “It takes a lot of work to make sure that your message is inclusive and open enough. And not all youth theatres are well equipped for that.”
Part of Dalton’s role involves fundraising for the organisation, an occupation he says is challenging but fulfilling. “When I try to find sustainable ways to get fundings, I think about the amount of young people that it can affect and the creativity that can continue to flourish,” he says.
As a final question, I ask him what are the challenges that Youth Theatre will face in the future? “In my opinion, a big challenge will be to communicate what is relevant. The more you can communicate the relevance of something, the bigger the impact you can create. It’s about the bigger picture: youth theatre can empower young people and give them a voice that is sometimes not being heard anywhere else.” graffiti.ie Dorothée Karekezi