Through this Community Mental Health Fudning (CMHF) Jigsaw, in partnership with Dublin City South CYPSC, proposed to develop a new, innovative community-based pilot programme to train, build the capacity of, and support community-based youth mental health champions to increase their own mental health literacy and that of key target groups in the community; one group to be young adults (18-25years) and the second group to be parents and other ‘One Good Adults’. The aim of the programme is to increase their own mental health literacy and that of key target groups in the community. This pilot was led by Jigsaw’s Youth Mental Health Promotion Department, and supported by Jigsaw’s Youth Participation and Research & Evaluation teams. The pilot was planned, implemented and evaluated across four Jigsaw Service areas – Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Donegal from January 2021 to March 2022.
The programme development included
Phase 1
- To develop, deliver and evaluate a new innovative community-based pilot programme to train, build the capacity of, and support community-based youth mental health champions/advocates to increase their own mental health literacy and that of key target groups in their community.
- A process of consultation was undertaken with a range of key stakeholders (identified with the support of Jigsaw’s Youth Mental Health Promotion Team and the Dublin City Jigsaw Service) who could usefully inform the development, delivery and evaluation of this programme. Due to public health restrictions imposed as a result of Covid-19, a qualitative consultation process, comprising of focus groups and one semi-structured interview, was used with the key stakeholders. These consultations took place during February and March 2021 as follows:
Consultations with12 participants in total from the ‘One Good Adult’ category.
• Talk about Youth St Andrews Resource Centre, Pearse St, Dublin 2 – 5 youth workers
• Canal Communities Regional Youth Service (Bluebell, Inchicore, Rialto) – 4 youth workers
• Local Sports Partnership South Dublin – 2 volunteers/parents
• Core Youth Service (Inchicore -one to one interview) - 1 manager
Consultations with 13 participants in total + young people from YAP‘Youth Mental Health Champions (young people aged 18 – 25 years)
• Venture Scouts, Scouting Ireland, Donore Avenue – 5 participants
• Young people from Ballyfermot Youth Service – 8 participants
• Young people from YAP Dublin South – to be held on March 30th
Consultation Report available Here
Following the consultation process with adults and young people in communities in the South Dublin City area, as well as Jigsaw Youth Community and Engagement Workers (YCEW) and Youth Advocates, it was agreed that two workshops should be developed. The content for these workshops was co-designed with a group of YCEWs and Youth Advocates. An evaluation process was designed by Jigsaw’s Evaluation Team and the Youth Participation Voice for Youth Advocates was monitored by the Youth Participation Team within Jigsaw.
Feedback on the Consultation with both Champions Groups HERE
Research Design and Procedure
A study of this programme was adopted and quantitative research design was developed. Data was collected via online survey measures with Young Adult Champions, Adult Champions, and participants in attendance at the Taking Care of Your Mental Health and Rallyinging Around Young People workshops. COPY available here
A Full report on the programme is available here