www.lecheile.ie / 01-2144350

Issue

Autumn

2015

Le Chéile strategic plan for 2015-2018

‘Inspiring Change, Transforming Lives,”

was launched in Dublin Castle this May by

the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law

Reform, Frances Fitzgerald TD at an event

that also celebrated it’s 10th anniversary.

At the launch, Minister Fitzgerald com-

mended Le Chéile’s new strategy noting

that “Le Chéile has developed the quality

and effectiveness of its mentoring and fami-

ly supports services over its first 10 years,

providing greater access to services for

young people. The strategy outlines a vi-

sion for every young person at risk to re-

ceive the right supports at the right time, to

make the most of their lives: a vision which

directly supports the goals for the Probation

Service and the Youth Justice Action Plan.”

Anne Conroy, Le Chéile’s CEO, said that

“Last year Le Chéile volunteer mentors

the state and outcomes for young people,

with a study last year of Le Chéile’s Restor-

ative justice project showing a return of

nearly €3 for every €1 invested.”

“We’re told quite often that a young person

may have never really engaged in any ser-

vice at all until getting a mentor, and that

the mentor is a volunteer makes a differ-

ence for a young person. We know from

experience that mentoring helps young peo-

ple build or repair relationships with their

family and community, and diverts from

antisocial behaviour by introducing positive

activities and goals.”

The strategy can be downloaded on

www.lecheile.ie and photos from the event

are available online and on pr.

Inspiring Change, Transforming Lives

worked with over 160 young people and 50

parents, with 2,041 mentoring sessions tak-

ing place. We aim to expand our services so

that all young people who need these ser-

vices can access them, regardless of where

they live in Ireland .”

The need for more men to volunteer was

highlighted by Le Chéile Ambassador, Lein-

ster and Ireland Rugby star Isaac Boss, who

said, “Le Chéile works mostly with teenage

boys who sometimes don’t have a positive

male role model in their lives – a lot ask if

they can be matched with a male mentor to

do activities together. It’s disappointing there

are so few men out there volunteering as

mentors when they can make such a big dif-

ference in a young person’s life.”

Anne Conroy stated that “Working construc-

tively with vulnerable young people who

offend is effective in terms of both cost to

Le Cheile Chairperson Denise McDermott, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald TD, CEO Anne Conroy, and Supt Collette Quinn, director of the Garda's juvenile diversion programme at the launch of LE Cheile’s new strategy.

Le Chéile News

Why Volunteers Make the

Best Mentors

ACJRD Conference:

Enagement with Young

People

Our Key Objectives 2015-

2018

We Need Your Feedback!

Annual Report 2014 Out

Welcome to Our New Vol-

unteers

Connect with Us!

Farewells

Photos from our Launch

Articles expressed in the newsletter do not necessary represent the views of Le Cheile.

Le Chéile is funded by the Irish Youth Justice Service through the Probation Service, as part of Ireland’s European

Structure and Investment Funds Programmes 2014-20120, which is co-funded by the Irish Government and the

European Union.

conference. The first workshop looked at

the evaluation of our Restorative Justice

project in Limerick, and the presentation

focused on the effectiveness of mentoring

in engaging young people who repeatedly

offend, who are considered a ‘hard to

reach’ group.

The Volunteers who acted as mentors to

young people and parents were praised—

“The fact that the mentor is a volunteer is

a key factor in engagement.” said CEO

Anne Conroy.

The conference was a collaboration of the

Department of Justice and Equality, the

Department of Children and Youth

Affairs (DCYA), An Garda Síochána, The

Probation Service, the Irish Prison Service

and the Association for Criminal Justice

Research and Development (ACJRD).

Thanks to the ACJRD for a productive

and engaging conference.

The effectiveness of mentoring as a

response to youth offending was presented

at the 2nd Annual Irish Criminal Justice

Agencies Conference, ‘Engagement with

Young People’ in Dublin Castle this July.

A former Le Chéile participant gave a

powerful speech to the conference about

her experience of the care system, proba-

tion and mentoring. She appealed for

earlier interventions and for mentoring to

be available to more young people. Her

speech was met with an overwhelmingly

positive response, and highlights the im-

portance of all agencies ensuring that there

is space for the young person to voice their

opinion and experience.

Her fellow speakers included the Minister

for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, the Garda

Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan and Dean

of the Uuniversity College Cork’s Child

Law Clinic, Professor Ursula Kilkelly.

Le Chéile also ran two workshops at the

The fact that they are volun-

teers and not ‘part of the sys-

tem’ is very important to the

Mentee in relationship build-

ing.

The young person realises

that this person is here solely

for them.

Volunteers are able to draw

on the own life experiences

and provide examples from

their own lives.

Volunteers may have en-

hanced knowledge of local

conditions, issues and re-

sources.

Mentors are aware of the im-

portance of the young person

wanting to change and being

given the chance to change

and having someone who

believes in their capacity to

change.

Training volunteers puts

skills back out into local

communities.

Volunteers bring experience

from a wide range back-

grounds and professions.

Volunteers bring huge energy

and positivity.

Volunteers are not afraid to

criticise!

FAREWELL

Le Chéile is now on

LinkedIn! Connect with us

for organizational updates

and suggested articles.

This month, LinkedIn have

a special focus on Mentor-

ing , which can be found on

the LinkedIn For Good net-

work. They’re encouraging

us all to #ThankYourMentor

and promoting mentoring

opportunities across the

board.

Find Le Cheile at:

http://buff.ly/1L4iofn or

type ‘Le Chéile Mentoring

& Youth Justice Support

Services into the search bar.

Le Cheile’s annual report for 2014 is now

out.

2014 was a busy year with many develop-

ments across mentoring, family support and

restorative justice and the annual report gives

a flavour of some our achievements.

The annual report can be found on our web-

site and downloaded at http://bit.ly/1FjvROv

3. Develop Le Chéile to ensure the effec-

tive achievement of its mission and

strategic objectives. Actions include

developing a national mentor recruit-

ment strategy, promoting volunteering

by former mentees, adopting the Gov-

ernance Code.

4. Communicate and promote the value of

Le Chéile as a distinct and leading ser-

vice in working with young people in

the justice system. Actions include:

sharing our experience of best practice

and learning with other agencies and

publications, enhancing the range of

information for young people and par-

ents/cares about Le Chéile's services.

The full strategy can be downloaded at

www.lecheile.ie

We're please to launch our strategy for 2015–

2018, and reaffirm our vision that for every

young person at risk, they get the right sup-

ports at the right time to make the most of their

lives.

Our key objectives for 2015-2018 are:

1. Develop the quality and effectiveness of

Le Chéile's services for young people at

risk ,in the justice system. Actions in-

clude increasing youtn participation, de-

veloping specialist mentoring, promoting

aftercare.

2. Provide greater access to Le Chéile's ser-

vices so that more young people may ben-

efit. Actions include: expanding service to

locations with a identified need, delivering

mentoring to young people in detention.

Le Cheile’s volunteer survey is now out!

We’re asking all our volunteers to share

their experience about volunteering with

us, what you thing we do well and sug-

gestions for what you’d like us to do bet-

ter! If you haven’t received a link to the

survey in your email yet, please contact

your co-ordinator who will send you the

form by email or past.

The survey is an important tool for us in

measuring how we’re training, support-

ing and recognizing our volunteers in the

work they do. We’ll be sharing the re-

sults of our survey in the next newsletter.

Goodbye to our Dublin

South Co-ordinator Claire

Carroll, who’s moving on

to pastures new. It’s been

an absolute pleasure to

work with her and both

staff and volunteers wish

her the very best in her new

role!

Our Dublin North, Dublin

South and Midlands Pro-

ject all had a busy sum-

mer with volunteer re-

cruitment and training.

We had a great turn out

and we’re delighted to

welcome all our new vol-

unteers

WELCOME TO OUR

NEW VOLUNTEERS

Our Key Objectives for 2015—2018

CONNECT WITH US!