On behalf of the National Youth Council of Ireland and the national youth health programme, NYHP, I thank the committee for the invitation to speak today on the topic of youth mental health and the challenges Covid-19 has presented. The National Youth Council of Ireland is the representative body for 51 national voluntary youth work organisations working with young people in every community in the country. We represent and support the interests of our member organisations and use our collective experience to act on issues that impact on young people.
The NYHP is a partnership between the National Youth Council of Ireland, the HSE and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth with a vision for Ireland to be a country where all young people can experience positive health and well-being.
Since the arrival of Covid-19 onto the island of Ireland, the NYHP has worked to collate and support the identified mental health needs of the youth work sector, including young people, staff and volunteers. As a result, new initiatives have been developed during this time that not only provide support in the current climate but will continue to address emerging needs when restrictions begin to ease. I will outline this work that the NYHP has carried out in the face of Covid-19, the emerging trends identified by youth workers and needs arising for the youth work sector.
How did the NYHP support the youth work sector during Covid-19? MindOut 2.0 is an evidence-based mental health promotion resource with an accompanying training programme that is facilitated by the NYHP. This resource and training aims to promote the social and emotional well-being of young people. The programme addresses the core competencies required for social and emotional well-being in young people, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management and decision-making skills. The NYHP quickly adapted this training and moved to delivering online training to approximately 100 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
A gap was identified within the sector regarding the need to support youth workers and volunteers’ mental health and well-being. As a result, Building Blocks for Wellbeing was developed. In addition, support sessions entitled How is the YOU doing in Youth Work? were provided and an additional training programme entitled Caring for the Caregiver: A Mindfulness Programme for Compassionate Self Care was rolled out. Building Blocks for Wellbeing was designed in partnership with The Sanctuary to provide those working on the front line, especially those providing support to young people, with invaluable tools to help maintain and support mental well-being. How is the YOU doing in Youth Work? is a supportive online space that offers participants the opportunity to stop for a moment and take stock - to give time to reflect on the challenges they were and are facing, explore some of the positives they have encountered and identify what is needed in terms of ongoing support. To date, over 14 sessions have been facilitated supporting over 140 youth workers and volunteers. Caring for the Caregiver afforded youth workers an opportunity to experience mindfulness and compassion practices with a focus on exploring empathy and open, inclusive and non-judgmental communication; identifying stress and anxiety within both their personal and professional life; and supporting the youth workers and those working with young people in the challenging times we all face
In partnership with Jigsaw and the National University of Ireland, Galway, the NYHP has developed a specialist certificate in youth mental health promotion. This level 7 certificate will commence in September 2021 and run throughout the academic year of 2021 to 2022 and aims to build the capacity of youth workers and staff from Jigsaw to respond to the mental health needs of young people.
What are the young people’s needs identified by youth workers? In 2020, the National Youth Council of Ireland commissioned a review of the youth work sector response to the Covid-19 pandemic. While the focus of this study was on the youth sector’s response to Covid-19, the research also highlighted how the pandemic has impacted negatively on young people. There is a high level of concern over the negative impact on young people’s mental health such as increased anxiety, social isolation and health anxiety. Young people are worried about the uncertainty around exams and results and the impact this will have on their future through missing the emotional support schools provide. There was concern around the conditions for reopening schools. Young people already experiencing poverty became even more deprived.
Young people whose families relied on jobs in the retail and hospitality sector were also negatively impacted. On the personal and social impact, a lack of social contact alongside the lack of structure and routine has had a negative impact on young people both physically and emotionally.
In addition, through the roll-out of the MindOut training from last year and into quarter 1 of 2021, the issues and concerns identified by youth workers in relation to young people’s mental health were also collected. The issues and concerns identified include long waiting lists for support services for young people’s mental health, such as counselling and therapeutic services; loneliness due to restrictions; a loss of social skills, for example, communication and decision-making skills; an increase in young people self-diagnosing mental health conditions; the negative impact of social media, in some cases highlighting loneliness and a sense of disconnection; low self-esteem and confidence, which was impacted greatly with restrictions; addiction and an increased engagement with online gaming and social media; disturbed sleep patterns as for some young people staying up at night was the only chance they had to get space on their own; struggling to engage or re-engage with the outside world as restrictions ebbed and flowed; inability to cope with everyday stresses due to decreased resilience; second-hand trauma which was influenced by Covid-19; dealing with bereavement and the impact of restrictions on the usual grieving process and accompanying supports; self-harm and suicidal ideation; an awareness of stresses within the family due to the strains on relationships, concerns about money and employment, lack of space and general frustrations; a lack of access to the usual supports, including grandparents, other extended family members, groups of friends, teachers, youth workers, etc.; concerns about the future in terms of education and employment as young people who may leave school after completing their junior cycle without a formal junior certificate, which they rely on for future opportunities; and concern about falling behind in their education and not being able to catch up.
The young voices programme, which is facilitated by NYCI, captured young people’s reflections on their experience of Covid-19. Five themes emerged and were identified. These included the fact that young people are significantly impacted by Covid-19, with loss of connection, isolation, disrupted relationships, education and opportunities. Youth work helped mitigate that impact by holding connections, "being there", maintaining relationships and maintaining hope for young people. Young people demonstrated resilience and drew on their own sense of self-efficacy to sustain themselves throughout the pandemic. The experience, while sharing similar characteristics with that of their peers, was different for individual young people and there is need for tailored responses and significant investment in youth work as we prepare again to emerge from significant restrictions.
How did the youth sector respond to Covid-19 and the challenges facing youth workers and volunteers? Youth organisations responded rapidly and creatively within the varying levels of restrictions throughout the period of the ongoing pandemic. NYCI conducted a review with its members to capture how the sector has responded. In many cases this involved moving to online spaces to provide services. This, however, came with challenges; one of the main ones cited was a lack of adequate digital infrastructure. Some projects continued their outreach services, in line with public health advice, for example, through detached work, socially distanced house visits, delivery of food packages, or delivery of activity packs directly to young people as a form of outreach and connection.
Many projects had a particular emphasis on supporting the emotional well-being and mental health of the young people they engaged with. Almost two thirds of NYCI members generated social media or website content on health and well-being. Some services made use of surveys to assess needs and adapted accordingly. Some projects engaged directly with parents as a way of contacting young people. Although engagement continued, it was identified within NYCI's review that there was a reduction in the number of young people engaging with the services. Some of this was due to the lack of technology. For others, there was a fatigue in engaging online or a discomfort and a general lack of confidence in engaging in this manner.
Youth workers now feel that they are fulfilling roles outside their remit. For example, many youth workers are engaging in family support work by delivering food parcels and supporting parents with issues that ideally should be dealt with in person, such as supporting a young person through a bereavement or navigating the young person through a court case. For themselves, youth workers have identified a lack of boundaries between work and home life. As services moved online and young people engaged with youth workers through phone calls and messages, there was an expectation from young people that youth workers would be constantly available to them and give them instant replies. This has led youth workers to feel they are constantly working. There was an appreciation from the sector that youth work was recognised as an essential service by Government. This acknowledgement of the worth and importance of youth work and the critical role it plays as a safety net for young people, especially vulnerable young people, was greatly appreciated.
On some of the needs of the sector identified in relation to mental health, the NYCI welcomes the commitment in the 2020 programme for Government with regard to youth work, which states that the incoming administration will "Continue to invest in community and voluntary family support services and youth work, recognising their value in preventing harm and in responding to the needs of vulnerable families". It is vital that we see evidence of this commitment in budget 2022 and beyond. Additional investment in youth work is crucial in supporting the sector to meet the needs of the growing number of young people, particularly the most vulnerable. This is even more important now as we emerge from Covid-19, because the new way of working which many youth organisations have developed to engage with young people, while meeting the social distancing requirements, will be more staff and cost intensive. This need was there prior to Covid-19 but is now greater as many young people have been significantly impacted by the pandemic.
One of the positive indicators in Ireland is our growing youth population. Census 2016 shows that the number of young people aged between ten to 24 will grow by 4.6% between 2020 and 2025. Although this is a positive development, it will also create challenges. With adequate resources, voluntary youth work organisations are well placed to support young people to reach their potential and make Ireland the best country in the world.
We acknowledge that youth work funding has increased in the last number of years. However, it is important to state that the sector endured very steep cuts in the 2008 to 2014 period. In that seven-year period, investment in youth work services from Government decreased by 31.8%, from €73.1 million in 2008 to €49.8 million in 2014. Since then, the investment from Government has increased - in 2021 it stood at €66.8 million. However, this means that financial support for youth work is still €6.3 million, or over 8%, below that of more than a dozen years ago, which does not take into account inflation in that period or the increased number of young people in our population and the need for youth services.
Increased support is needed in mental health promotion by providing funding to support the roll-out of the specialist certificate in youth mental health promotion. Support is also needed for young people to build their skill set and confidence to cope not only with their own mental health concerns but to support their peers, where appropriate, taking account of their own competence and capacity. For example, while the applied suicide intervention skills training, ASIST, is available to youth workers and provides them with a framework to support someone with suicidal ideation, there is a gap in relation to supporting young persons in building their own capacity to support their peers to a level commensurate with age and experience. This support system could be developed either online, or as a training programme, which could be accessed directly by young people. A support structure and enhanced self-care for workers experiencing second-hand trauma through their work with vulnerable young people is also a need.
Last, funding should be provided to the national youth health programme to employ a dedicated mental health promotion officer, MHPO. In 2016-2017, a mental health promotion officer was employed to support the youth sector. This allowed for the redevelopment and delivery of the MindOut training I spoke about earlier and the development of an online mental health signposting tool. Providing the funding for this position, again, would allow for the provision of more training for the youth sector such as dealing with challenging behaviours, ASIST, understanding self-harm and mental health first aid.
In addition, it would allow the health programme to continue to work in partnership with the HSE and the National Office for Suicide Prevention and other relevant stakeholders to address the mental health need within the youth sector. Finally, I am pleased to answer any questions.