
Meitheal – working with children, young people and their families to encourage strengths and identify needs
Do you want some help with school, home, friends, worries, loneliness, family? Maybe a Meitheal could help.
Meitheal is an old Irish word that describes how neighbours come together to support each other in times of need. Our Meitheal can support you and your family to get the help you need.
Here is a video made by other young adults which will help you understand what a Meitheal is and how it works. Just click the link:-
Meitheal is a way of working with you and your family to encourage your strengths and to identify your needs.
Meitheal brings together people and services that can help you to make the changes you want in your life. The kinds of services that might be involved in Meitheal are schools, youth services, family resource centres and medical services.
If you are facing challenges that are difficult to overcome and you need someone in your corner, Meitheal could help.
Here are some of the challenges that Meitheal could help you with:
- Problems at school
- Feeling down
- Not getting on with your parents
- Problems at home
- Loneliness
- Worrying a lot
Maybe you are already getting support from different services but finding it hard to deal with all of them at once. Meitheal brings everyone together. It’s a bit like having a whole team looking out for you.
How does Meitheal work?
- You will work with a supportive person called a lead practitioner. This may be a youth worker, counsellor or teacher. The important thing is this is someone you trust and are happy to work with.
- Your lead practitioner will help you think about your strengths and needs
- The next step is your lead practitioner will arrange a Meitheal support meetingfor you and your parents or guardians where they will help to put a plan in place for you. This may include a youth worker, a youth club leader or teacher
- The Meitheal team will help you follow the plan and make the changes you want in life, thought regular meetings for as long as you need it
- You and your family will decide how long you want this support for
It is very important that you and your family understand every part of the plan.
What have young people said about Meitheal?
I had a say about what was happening for me, all the people who worked with me, coming together for me, was good
Meitheal changed how I thought of myself, who I thought I could be in life and just gave me a goal
If you think Meitheal could help you contact your local office here in Donegal on 074 9123783