Young Person's Project

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The purpose of Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland’s Young Person’s Development Project is to develop effective local protection and prevention strategies for young people affected by domestic violence.
We provide specialist training on a variety of issues around children and domestic violence for individuals or agencies working with or on behalf of children.

An education pack entitled ‘No Fear’ has been developed for working with young people. It explores a variety of issues including relationships, domestic violence and conflict management.

An activity pack for primary school children ‘Helping Hands’ has also been developed. The overall aim of this pack is to increase children’s understanding of feeling safe and to explore and promote behaviours which will contribute to a safe environment.

There is also a training video ‘Hurting, Coping, Growing - children and domestic violence’. This video provides any organisation working with children and young people with a training tool which will go some way to raising awareness and understanding of children and domestic violence.

The project aims to:

Develop support strategies by working directly with young people to assess their
needs.

Raise awareness among all those who care for and support young people of the social context and effects of domestic violence upon their lives.

Enhance the skills, knowledge and support interventions of all those
agencies and individuals who care for young people.

Develop educational tools for the use of young people so that they may examine differences between healthy and abusive relationships.

Contribute to the knowledge of policy making bodies of the needs of young people affected by domestic violence.

Training offered through the project

The “Children Under Stress” course provides specialist training for any organisation or
individuals working with or on behalf of young people. The course explores:

possible causes and effects of children’s stress

how children experience domestic violence

effects domestic violence can have on children

ideas for providing support to children and young people who experience domestic violence

The content and format of training can be negotiated and agreed with groups and a training programme can be tailored to suit the organisations training needs.

Comments from previous course participants include:

no fear

Working with young people The "No Fear" education pack - Heading for healthy relationships

In March 1998, Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland launched the “No Fear” education pack. The pack was developed to provide a preventive approach to domestic violence. The overall aim of the pack is: “to provide front line carers and educators of young people with the resources necessary to explore and openly discuss issues such as relationships and domestic violence”.

The pack consists of 15 individual exercises which employ a variety of media including group work, discussion, role play etc.

The pack is suitable for any agency or individual working with young people on a regular basis. This may include youth clubs, secondary schools, training organisations etc.

What users say about the “No Fear” Education pack:

A recent social audit revealed the following:

90% of users felt comfortable talking about relationships and domestic violence with young people.

90% experienced no problems using the pack.

100% said they would use it again.

100% felt that other organisations working with young people would benefit from using the pack.

What young people said:

“It has made me think about why we go into a relationship and what to do if they go wrong”

“It was interesting learning about domestic violence. I learnt a lot of things I didn’t know”.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE 'NO FEAR' TRAINING PACK.

For further information on the Young Person's Project please Contact: Debbie Mehaffy Young Person's Development Worker

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