Focus Ireland

Today a speaker from Focus Ireland came in to speak to us about homelessness. This was one of the best speakers that has come in this academic year as he changed my views in less then an hour on being homeless and on homeless people.

At first when shown a picture of a homeless man on the city centre and asked to have more sympathy for this man because he is addicted to drugs I said no. Although after hearing what he had to say on the matter I did begin to empathise with these types of people. As he rightly pointed out living homeless on the streets you would be surrounded by drugs and it would be hard not to get involved. These people need all the help they can get to get back on their feet and into a home. As was said in the video shown to us "it could happen to anyone".

All in all it was a great talk and I appreciate and will support the work of Focus Ireland in the future.

Headstrong Mental Health Talk

Dr Aileen O'Reilly talked to us today about the Headstrong organisation.

Their vision is an Ireland where young people are connected to their community and have the resilience to face challenges to their mental health. They are working to change how Ireland thinks about young people’s mental health through the Jigsaw Programme of service development, through Research and Advocacy.

I found this talk very interesting and I know it affects a lot of people in Ireland especially in its current state. Young people should be encourage to speak out as the help is there for them.

Gardaí Drugs Talk

Garda Gary Dunne, a member of the Drugs Squad came in to speak to us about a number of drug related dangers and effects. We were also shown some of the worlds most expensive drug operations, one of which was in a cave.
My favourite part of the talk was hearing how dealers and buyers pass drugs to one another. I wont go into much detail but out one end and in the other should explain it sufficiently. While Gary didn't have much experience in shoot outs and exciting stuff like that he told us poignant stories of visiting the poorer area's of greater Dublin. He said in many cases the drug users are good people just taken a wrong turn.
I really enjoyed todays talk with Gary.

Eagles Flight Workshop

Today we took part in a team building workshop designed to enhance the students ability to problem solve, negotiate with team members in a cooperative environment, facilitate the aquisistion of project management skills and educate students in the area of goal setting best practises and the importance of considering objectives prior to the commencement of projects. The Eagles Flight Workshop was presented to us by Gerard O'Shea.
The object of this game was to travel across the desert to the mountains to collect gold bars (1 per day) and return within a 23 day period. (5mins = 1day). The quickest route brought you there in 6 days letting you collect 11 gold bars so you can return in 6 days. This did not account for weather, food/water shortages etc. each team was given $1000 to buy food and shelter. Everyone was given the same opportunities at the start but we all had different results.
The team I was on came in first place with 7 bars of gold. We were far from perfect though.  After playing the game, we reviewed our every move. Soon enough, we realised that we had jumped to many conclusions, assumed different things and had not fully understood the objective of the game. So, all together, it was a huge learning curve.

See more at http://www.eaglesflight.com/

TEFL

TEFL is an acronym for 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language'. David Hopper of Grasshopper Learning Centre told us about the degree and its benefits. He was able to travel the world while making money as a TEFL teacher. He had some very interesting stories from his travels which mad me envious of his early life. He said he is considering running courses for young people, introducing them to TEFL teaching, from his language college in Portmarnock.

Emma Walsh

This afternoon Emma Walsh the mother of Donal Walsh came in to speak to us today. She took it upon herself to continue Donal's message. She told us of a normal young boy who loved life and couldn't bear to see others with a choice take their own life.

With only a few months left, he said. There it was; I was given a timeline on the rest of my life. No choice, no say, no matter. It was given to me as easy as dinner.
I couldn’t believe it, that all I had was 16 years here, and soon I began to pay attention to every detail that was going on in this town.
I realised that I was fighting for my life for the third time in four years and this time I have no hope. Yet still I hear of young people committing suicide and I’m sorry but it makes me feel nothing but anger.
I feel angry that these people choose to take their lives, to ruin their families and to leave behind a mess that no one can clean up.
Yet I am here with no choice, trying as best I can to prepare my family and friends for what’s about to come and leave as little a mess as possible.
I know that most of these people could be going through financial despair and have other problems in life, but I am at the depths of despair and, believe me, there is a long way to go before you get to where I am.
For these people, no matter how bad life gets, there are no reasons bad enough to make them do this; if they slept on it or looked for help they could find a solution, and they need to think of the consequences of what they are about to do.
So please, as a 16-year-old who has no say in his death sentence, who has no choice in the pain he is about to cause and who would take any chance at even a few more months on this planet, appreciate what you have, know that there are always other options and help is always there.

Donal also appeared on the Saturday night show to give us his message.

Donal passed away in May 2013 after raising €50000 for charity.