Keeping trouble at bay

AS THE RECESSION continues to bite, community workers across the country fear further cutbacks to vital services for young people. Strong comments have been made about how the most vulnerable will be the ones hardest hit, but for many young people on the margins of Irish society, life is difficult whether the economy is booming or bust.

It is these young people who the Youth Advocacy Programme (Yap) aims to reach. A community-based initiative which originated in the United States, it was brought here in 2002. Since then programmes have been set up in counties Galway/Roscommon, Limerick, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Dublin and earlier this year, Yap Ireland became an independent charity.

“We work with high-risk young people and try to keep them out of residential care by getting them back involved with community activities,” explains Siobhan O’Dwyer, chief executive of Yap Ireland.

“What’s different about our work is that we give the young person 15 hours contact with an advocate from their own community, who they can also call at any time during the six months they work with them,” she says.

Yap, which is funded by the HSE, also uses what’s called a strengths-based model. This means that the young people are asked what they need, what they have been doing well and what Yap can do to help.

“Many of the young people we deal with have been involved in petty crime, have had problems with alcohol or drugs. Some have been homeless and in contact with other agencies before us. They’ve always been told about their problems, but our advocates are trained to find out their strengths,” says O’Dwyer.

Earlier this year, a group of 12 to 18-year-old women who worked with advocates from Yap made a DVD called Girls Out Loud – Young People's Perspective on Youth Justice. Using a mixture of puppetry and direct-to-camera quotes from the women, it is a powerful documentary on street life from their point of view.

“If there were more youth centres, we wouldn’t get into trouble so much,” one young woman says. Others complain about how the local playgrounds were taken over by drug dealers, which left them nowhere else but the streets to hang out.

Some also say gardaí treat them like “scumbags”.

“It is an issue that whenever there is a group of young people hanging out, gardaí and neighbours see it as a problem,” says O’Dwyer.

“Often all they are looking for is a safe space to be. When they are on the streets, they end up getting targeted by others. Youth cafes and youth centres that have a place where people can make coffee and watch DVDs are good, but there aren’t so many of them.”

Jonathan (14), Shane (15) and Sarah (17), together with their advocates, Sean, Fran and Tamara, speak to The Irish Timesabout their experiences.

“We shouldn’t be judged by where we live,” says Sarah. “If you’re wearing a tracksuit, gardaí think you’re a troublemaker,” adds Shane, who was badly bullied at school. “I’m learning now to ignore people and go to those who accept me. I was trying too hard to be liked before,” continues Shane, who has recently joined and performed with a stage school.

“He’s coping better now,” says Fran Dempsey, Shane’s advocate. “We work with the parents as well, and Shane’s mother is doing her best to help. Some parents don’t bother much.”

Jonathan says: “I was put in touch with Sean from Yap because I kept getting into trouble in school and out of school. He’s there to keep me on a straight road.”

Sean Nolan, Jonathan’s advocate, adds: “I think he’s a bit safer now. He’s more relaxed and taking on board the supports that are offered to him.”

Keeping the young person – who has often lost contact with other family members – out of residential care is a primary aim of Yap. Getting them back into school is another, as is giving them a chance to talk about life from their perspective.

The Yap advocates also put the young people in contact with other community intervention services and, if they are homeless, they are put in touch with Focus Outreach.

Even with these other services, there can still be problems. For instance, if a young person is homeless, they must contact a member of the Garda, often the person they least want to make contact with.

“The Garda don’t want this system to continue either, but there is no out-of-hours social work service for young people in Dublin,” says O’Dwyer.

A lack of appropriate mental health services for young people is another issue that Yap workers say needs attention.

“When there are serious mental health issues, such as abuse, neglect and/or self-harm, it can be hard to access services for young people,” says Bernie Laverty, the programme manager of the Dublin/Kildare Yap programmes.

“And, the families themselves often feel judged, so they need support too,” she adds.

Unsurprisingly, it's often the young people who have the clearest ideas of what will work best for them. And Yap Ireland hopes that by circulating the Girls Out LoudDVD to Garda stations and juvenile youth liaison officers, their voices will be listened to more.

• www.yapireland.ie