Le Chéile Mentoring & Youth Justice Support Services Is a Community Based Volunteer Led
Fact sheet
Who We Are
Le Chéile Mentoring & Youth Justice Support Services is a community based volunteer led mentoring and family support service, which works with young people involved in or at risk of offending.
We work to make positive changes in the lives of young people who offend and their families, through the provision of Mentoring, Family Support and Restorative Justice Services. We provide tailored and flexible services with young people at the core. We work in partnership with Young Persons Probation to reduce the level of crime in the community.
Our charity recruits, trains and supports volunteers from local communities around Ireland who act as positive role models and provide a supportive relationship for the young person. Each week mentors and young people meet and work together on goals, supporting a young person in their community.
In 2015 Le Chéile awarded the Approved Service Provider accreditation from the Mentoring & Befriending Foundation, the first organisation in Ireland to achieve this standard.
Le Chéile is Irish for ‘together’ - we believe communities can achieve more when they work together.
What We Do
Le Chéile offers a range of services to young people and their families which are delivered by co-ordinators and our volunteers around Ireland.
In 2014 Le Chéile volunteers worked with 163 young people and 50 parents around Ireland providing over 2041 mentoring sessions.
Youth Mentoring
o Youth Mentoring is a one-to-one relationship-based support which provides a positive role model to a young person. Mentors help young people improve their self-esteem, working on relationships and communications skills, and addressing anti-social behaviour.
Family support
- Parent Mentoring
o Parent mentoring helps parents develop their own parenting skills and gives support with parenting issues. Parent mentoring gives a non-judgemental time and space outside the family home to parents under pressure
- Parenting programmes
o Le Chéile provides a range of parenting programmes and can link parents to locally available parenting programmes such as Parenting Plus, Strengthening Families Programme, and Non-Violent Resistance parenting programme for parents experiencing child to parent violence.
- Family support interventions
o Family Support Interventions are tailored supports designed for each individual family’s need and complement the mentoring sessions. Family support interventions aim to improve communications within the family and promote the importance of family relationships. Examples might include family mediation or a family meal.
- Strengthening Families Programme
o Le Chéile coordinates and funds Strengthening Families Programme (SFP) on behalf of the Probation Service, providing support and advice to local steering committees. SFP is an evidence-based whole family skills training programme, designed to work with high stress families, including families with drug and alcohol issues.
Restorative Justice
o Restorative Justice works with people who have been affected by crime (offenders, victims, families and communities) to repair the harm caused. We use a number of different approaches tailor-made to the needs of the young person and the victims. A 2014 external evaluation found the project returns nearly €3 for every €1 invested, with significant benefits for young people, victims, families and the community.
Who we work with
Profile of Young People Referred
o Aged 12-21 (average age 14-19)
o Vulnerable
o Generally male
o Vulnerable
o Chaotic family life
o Engaged with many agencies
Types of Issues Young People Face
o Mental health issues
o Learning difficulties
o Self-harm or Suicide ideation
o Drug and alcohol addiction
o Behaviour issues
o Peer pressure, and lack of positive role models
Mentoring Makes a Difference:
Young Person, participant in mentoring: “My mentor always kept me thinking about my goals. Even when I messed up. She made me want to have a better life when I listened to her stories about travelling all over the world. It was good to have someone outside your own family and friends to talk to every week. She never gave up on me. That helped when things were bad.”
Young person, participant in mentoring: “It’s changed me, it quietened me down and the whole lot, I’m completely different now. I used to be wild, brazen, I wouldn’t be able to just stand here, I’d go mad, now I can just stand here.”
Parent, involved in the parent mentoring programme: “it gives you someone to talk to, a bit of support, because support is very limited where parents are concerned. She doesn’t judge, she’s open minded, very down to earth, great sense of humour, easy to talk to and she makes you feel relaxed and comfortable.”
Parent mentor: “You’re not there as a counsellor or psychotherapist, you’re not trying to analyse their thoughts or their life but there are real issues and real problems, and real stuff that you do talk about. You would have serious issues that you’d banter out but you would come to a decision together.”
Teen, involved with strengthening families programme: “Strengthening Families made me realise that I wasn’t alone and that nobody is perfect. I liked it, like… doing all the games and stuff.”
Mentor, involved in young person mentoring: “An area I fell really proud of helping my Mentee with was in trusting services again and rebuilding family relationships […] the experience of being a Mentor has had a really positive impact on me.”
Young Person, participant in young mentoring: “My mentor likes me and helps me to think what to do best when I’m upset.”
Contact:
* Tivoli Training Centre, 24 Tivoli Terrace South, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
8 www.lecheile.ie
@
( 01-2144334
LeCheileYouthJustice
@Le_Cheile