In our Youth Groups at the moment, we are providing several different forms of online and phone support to the children, young people and parents.   

For our Music Clubs, CoderDojo and Grinds for the Junior and Leaving Certs we are using Google Classrooms and providing notes and online material for children to practice at home if possible. We are also posting links where the children can work on whatever programmes they need. Instagram is a great asset and many of the projects and activities are available there.

We are also hopeful of setting up more online resources over the next week.

To date, we have done small projects on staying active, motivation, mental health and supports available, community supports, arts and baking through our Instagram account. This will be a platform to provide up to date information and promote their social solidarity. 

We have a group of 8 amazing volunteers who are going to be recording and working on different activities, projects and ideas that can be shared on our Instagram page. The hope is this is going to be an interactive and informal way to get young people’s attention and support them through this time. 

Some ideas of projects are; mini art club– in which we get the participants to share their work–, mindfulness, reading stories, story writing, educational topics; like exploring interesting topics like women’s rights including getting the vote in Ireland, cooking sessions, online safety, current age-friendly updates, coding, fitness and keeping healthy, mental health etc…  

It is also a way of us reinforcing the guidance and practices of social distancing and isolation by the young people and for us to see and respond to any developing mental health issues. 

We are available on the phone and if anyone wants to reach out on my email or on our social media channels.