The Youth Work Ireland Tipperary team with their award.
Award for health promotion work
World Health Day, April 7, was a very exciting day at YWIT as they received a new plaque for their health promotion work. This is the third renewal of the Gold Standard award from the National Youth Council of Ireland in recognition of the work of the last three years (2018-2020) in the field of health with young people in Tipperary. The presentation took place in Croke St, Thurles.
The award is based on the dimensions of health, i.e. social, sexual, mental/emotional, spiritual, physical and planetary. There are 12 criteria for evaluating HP policies, HP Committee Role, Youth Health Strategy, Youth Involvement, Youth Peer Health Promotion Initiatives, Organizational Health Policies, Health Plans health training for staff, volunteers and management, models of good practice, inter-agency collaboration and community links, promoting equality and inclusion, occupational health and safety, safeguarding and protecting the ‘childhood.
The event was kicked off by our MC of the evening Jack Ryan (a member of the Youth Mental Health sub-group in Thurles) asking Kevin to let us know about the revival he had just assessed.
Kevin O’Driscoll of NYCI commended the HP committee for their work in driving the HP agenda and supporting the work being done within YWIT. He commented on how having an HP committee of dedicated volunteers, including young people, to support Pauline as a health promoter was very admirable and quite unique. He also says that the evidence files were full of excellent initiatives and good practices in the field of health promotion.
Kevin then presented the new gold plate to Joanne with a fist pump.
Joanne McCormack (HP Committee Chair) said it was great to be part of this very active committee even during Covid when they met online. She thinks HP is really important to stay focused because health impacts everyone and promoting good health and support habits is essential for people to take care of themselves. On a personal level, working in palliative care provides balance and is very rewarding to be involved in this aspect of health and well-being.
Viv O’Connor (BOM representative) explained how excited she was to be part of this committee on behalf of the board and how she believed health was part of everything and felt that having HP as an integral part of the work is beneficial to all the young people and communities we work with.
Kaitlyn Ryan (youth and chair of the mental health subgroup at Thurles) talked about the virtual wellness badges they created last year during covid to give young people a chance to complete tasks for their well-being on their phone, which could create good habits for their mental health in the future, such as going for a walk or keeping a journal. Kaitlyn then relaunched the badges so more young people can use the code to access the badges and participate in 2022.
Caroline Burke (EC Supervisor) explained how staff wellbeing has become an integral part of the work culture and reminded staff to look out for themselves so they can create good workplace health habits . Last year’s Staff Wellness Challenge was very positive and allowed staff and volunteers to connect in teams and participate even in times of covid.
Aishling Sheehan Boyle (President-in-Office of BOM) shared how over the years she has seen how integrating HP into our work with young people and advocating for young people’s health impacts both within the community and at the interagency level, ultimately bringing new services and funding opportunities. for the health of young people in our region. She congratulated the HP committee for their commitment to this area of our work and wished them well for the next cycle.
The last words were from Pauline Strappe (health promoter within the staff team), she thanked the volunteer committee, who are such a support to this work and a great sounding board for new ideas. All staff have health promotion work as part of their overall work plan, but it’s great to have a dedicated group with this as their main focus.
Youth Work Ireland Tipperary, through its inter-agency work and core values, makes youth health a priority in its work with young people in Tipperary. Overnight, we highlighted some work from recent years, including our work during Covid, which included the shift to digital youth work and engagement with young people online, which included new policies on health and digital wellbeing and youth support on zoom and online platforms.
The award accredits us for the next three-year cycle for health promotion which has already begun and gives us the opportunity to plan HP work in a focused way, we see this work as something that can be developed at the future as we respond to the needs of young people and young adults in Tipperary and support the staff and volunteers who work with them. The HP committee is excited to be working on a new HP plan for the next few years and is planning a meeting in May.
