Best Practice

Overview

Foróige’s Best Practice Unit was established three years ago to ensure that the organisation continues to excel in the youth work realm and to realise Foróige’s vision of being an international leader in creating and delivering high quality resources and programmes to facilitate the development of staff, volunteers and most importantly young people. With 1 in 10 young Irish people now involved in Foróige, it is evident that our clubs, projects and services are a very attractive and much needed resource for young people.

Two major new resources aimed at young people on the topics of sexual health and anti-social behaviour were developed by Foróige in 2011. The resources – Relationships & Sexuality’s ‘REAL U’ and ‘A Life of Choices’ for use in Garda Youth Diversion Projects – are set to make a significant difference to the way staff and volunteers work with young people in Ireland today.

Sue Redmond, Manager of Foróige’s Best Practice Unit says
“ Foróige’s approach is to empower staff and volunteers by re-enforcing an ethos to love learning, nurture awareness and promote development. This ultimately enables staff to base what they do on relevant theory and evidence, thereby instilling greater confidence, skills and ability in the work they do. Once they do this, they can bring about real change in the lives of the young people they work with.”

The REAL U manual is a personal development and sex education programme aimed at equipping young people with the skills, knowledge and confidence to develop healthy relationships and delay the onset of early sexual activity. Topics include puberty, body image, relationships, boundaries, emotional well-being, reproduction, sexuality, contraception and sexually transmitted infections. Thanks to funding secured from the HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme, at the time of going to print, Foróige is delighted to offer training on this programme free of charge to other organisations.

A Life of Choices has been developed with the work of Garda Youth Diversion Projects in mind. The core modules focus on building social skills, decision making, problem solving, managing emotions, reducing impulsivity, building empathy, anger management, encouraging pro-social behaviour and increasing motivation to change – to name but a few.