No 4 Youth Service

 

 

Our Work

 

No 4 Youth Service aims to enhance the quality of young people’s lives by providing an effective and holistic response to a wide variety of issues pertaining to young people aged 13 – 25 years.

No 4 Youth Service provides a wide range of supports for young people aged 13 – 25 years, all of which are based on a youth work approach, ensuring  that young people aid their own personal development.

 

The aim of No 4 Youth Service is to ensure that all of our programmes result in Better Outcomes for young people in line with Ireland's National Policy for Children and Young People. It is important that young people can access supports to help them to address the various issues they may be faced with, and critically it is essential that young people are supported to develop their own resilience to ensure that they can make positive choices for themselves as they go through life.

 

.

No 4 Youth Service focuses on informal education and furthering the young person’s social and personal development. This practice is rooted in the Personal Development and Critical Social Education models of youth work, as detailed in Hurley & Tracey, 1993, and underpins our youth work programme.

 

 

The Personal Development Model has emphasis on:

 

• Education for Life Programmes
• Recreational Provision
• Social/Political Awareness
• Vocational Training
• Arts/creativity
• The youth work relationship/process involved in the practice involves:
• Youth workers acting as confidantes
• Young people being respected as equals by adult youth workers and volunteers
• The relationship created supports the young person’s personal learning and development

“I think No4 Youth Service is a great place to go to get help with things, meet new people, and the staff are very nice, understanding and good to talk to.”

Youth Practice

 

No 4 Youth Service is a Health Promoting Service.

 

In 1986 the World Health Organisation (WHO) defined health

promotion as:

 

‘…the process of enabling people to increase control over

and improve their health’.

 

The National Youth Council of Ireland describes health promotion as:

 

‘…embracing actions that are directed at strengthening the skills and capabilities of individuals’.

 

Health promoting activities at No 4 Youth Service aim to enhance the individual’s well-being as well as equipping them with the skills and information to make positive choices. This contributes to the focus on prevention and encouraging young people to be pro-active in their lives.

 

The National Health Quality Mark achieved by No 4 Youth Service ensures a whole organisation approach to health promotion by:

 

•     Developing personal skills through a range of activities
•     Creating supportive environments allowing young people to feel safe and included
•     Policy Development that is based on evidence-informed practice
•     Partnership with others to achieve our aims

Health Promotion

 

No 4 Youth Service is a voluntary agency with charitable status,

registered as: Seirbhisi na nOg CLG

Charity Number 20028183

 

It is governed by a voluntary board of directors.  Accounts are audited

and submitted annually to the Companies Office

 

Funding:

No 4 Youth Service is funded by the Department of Children and

Youth Affairs, distributed through GRETB.  In addition grants are

received from HSE West and Tusla. A contribution is received

from Galway Diocese.

 

Statistics:

No 4 Youth Service supports up to 550 individual young people annually

 

Quality Standards:

No 4 Youth Service is engaged with two quality standard frameworks:

 

•     National Quality Standards Framework
•     National Health Promotion Framework

Governance