Ms Rachael Treanor:

I want to speak about the MindOut programme. There is a MindOut programme in schools and another MindOut programme for outside schools. The programme is about building the core competencies of young people so that when they transition from school into college or whatever field they follow, they have the skills that will support them. Everyone is talking about schools but the youth work sector is also a major area where young people are involved. The National Youth Council of Ireland has the remit of rolling out the MindOut programme in the youth sector. The programme is slightly different in the youth sector because it is very much tailored to each young person's specific needs. The young person will fill out a needs assessment and will be able to indicate what area needs work, whether it is behaviour that develops confidence or decision-making skills. The programme is tailored to support each young person. Youth work organisations are trained up on this. From November onwards, schools completion officers will also be trained up and each programme will be tailored to the young person.

Another programme, FRIENDS, was introduced by Carlow Regional Youth Services. It is the only programme that is cited by the World Health Organization as evidence-based for anxiety in children. It is effective at all levels. However, there is a capacity issue in rolling it out. The service simply does not have sufficient capacity to roll out the programme. Such programmes provide great support to young people from a young age. The well-being guidelines will be great. It is similar to the health quality mark whereas the school will have to take a holistic approach. Those involved will not only do work on mental health. They will look at the whole organisation to identify how they will create a more health-promoting environment. That is what the youth work sector does. Everything we do is about embedding health promotion. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs did a review of youth work funded projects to find out what was working and what was not working. One finding of that process was that there are seven potent mechanisms. The title may have changed since the review was done. If a programme is seen to be developing a young person's communications skills, relationship skills or decision-making skills, it is considered to be highly effective. That is what is needed in prevention. If a young person can develop these core competencies, he or she will be quicker to deal with whatever comes his or her way. There are programmes which address that but there are funding and capacity issues.