The CWELL programme, a University of Limerick diploma designed by communities for communities, is providing training for people interested in helping the areas they live in.

“The acronym CWELL stands for Community, Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership and Lifeskills. Those were the themes that came out in the initial collaborations with the parish. They became the core of what CWELL is about,” said Eileen Hoffler, a community engagement facilitator with UL.

It began in St Mary’s Parish and has expanded to include other regeneration areas of Limerick, and Eileen says it offers a lot to people who are often already involved in the community.

“It’s a two year undergraduate diploma aimed at people already active in their communities. In a lot of communities people would be involved in several different organisations, you’d have the usual suspects involved in lots of things,” said Eileen.

The course consists of eight modules with much of the second year focused on a community based project.

“There’s a lot of group work, learning by experience. There are essays and lectures, but the vast majority of it is group work. It’s quite imaginative in how things are taught and assessed,” says Eileen.

She feels it really helps to further develop the potential of people already invested in their communities.

“What CWELL does is enhance what people have already. Some people find it really transformative and they find it affirming. We have a rule in class that you can’t say ‘only’ or ‘just’ because the students who are attracted to CWELL sometimes don’t realise how much community experience they have and the level of skills they have. I think CWELL helps to bring that out as well as giving them new skills and knowledge.”

An example of the kind of projects that CWELL students engaged on this year was one with residents on King’s Island, Limerick, to revive a community garden. The Island Gardens project involved collaboration with community gardener Rebecca Hussey, Limerick Civic Trust, Limerick Growing Communities, Sláintecare Healthy Communities, and the PAUL Partnership’s Empowering Communities project and it aimed to develop a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone. Our main photo shows CWELL students – left to right – Caroline O’Connell, Debra Franklin, Jacinta Kelly and Debbie Bourke – with community worker Mary Hughes (2nd left) at the launch of the Island Gardens project.

You can find out more about the course here: https://www.ul.ie/engage/cwell

CWELL publishes local magazine

• CWELL graduate Jackie Condon is a leading member of the editorial team that publishes CWELL’s magazine.

CWELL has its own magazine* and graduate Jackie Condon is heavily involved in getting it to print every two months.

“I’m part of the editorial team with Tracey Gleeson. Maura (Adshead) is the programme director and Eileen is also involved in it. I’d be the main reporter and really I’m a conduit for community workers to showcase things that are going on in their communities. I am also the envoy that goes out and asks if they would like to have what they are doing featured in a magazine.

“There are an awful lot of people doing a lot of hard work behind the scenes and it very much goes unrecognised. It’s nice for the groups to have a voice. Also, students can contribute if there is anything going on in their area. It’s my job to pull it all together,” she says of the publication.

Jackie loves to see the energy and commitment of the various community groups in the area: “It is both humbling and encouraging to see all of the positive work going on throughout Limerick.”

‘CWELL Magazine’ is distributed across Limerick city and Jackie says the most important thing is telling people’s stories in a positive way.

“I just want to do justice to the people about whom I do the features. Once they’re happy about how they have been portrayed and their voice is heard, then my job is done.”

The most recent edition featured a women’s shed, a men’s shed, green electricity, model railway building, and the performance of a play which made the front cover. Called ‘Club 27’ the play was written by CWELL student Sharon Brommel who was studying two courses at once: She wrote the play while also attending a script writing course.

“The community is a big part of this project as I combine the two things I enjoy most, working with people and writing,” Sharon told CWELL Magazine.

MAIN PHOTO CAPTION: CWELL students Caroline O’Connell, Debra Franklin, Jacinta Kelly and Debbie Bourke with Mary Hughes (a community worker with the Empowering Communities Programme – 2nd left) at the launch of their community project Island Gardens.

* You can sign up to ‘CWELL Magazine’ by emailing Tracey.Gleeson@ul.ie