A pilot programme held in Birr, Co Offaly last year developed innovative ways of encouraging young people to get outdoors, on what became a journey of self-discovery. The good news is, FLOW is back with a new course about to begin this November.

The FLOW youth engagement programme is for young people aged 18-25 who want to connect with nature, boost their wellbeing, and gain new skills. The next course begins on November 12; sessions run every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-3pm.

The programme is designed and delivered by Offaly Local Development Company (OLDC), in collaboration with Green Offaly. The pilot course took place from April to June 2023.

Over a 12-week period, one day per week, participants took part in tailored workshops in traditional craft-based skills. Most of the activities were held outdoors at the Irish Heritage School and Birr Castle.

Hazel Daly, a community development worker with OLDC, told Changing Ireland: “Myself and my colleague, Rebekah Keaveney, who at the time was working for Green Offaly, we wanted to do a  youth focus programme, bringing young people outside.

“At its inception, we thought we’d end up with young people who are experiencing unemployment, or maybe early school leavers. But everyone who ended up on the programme had autism, or a mental health difficulty, or both.

“And that’s where we saw there is a huge gap in programming for this age group, who are experiencing social isolation as a result of there being no offerings that are suitable (for them).”

Three Strands: Skills, Self and Nature

The programme was framed around sustainable development goals and consisted of three strands: self, skills and nature.

Some of the participants were referred by their occupational therapists or other youth programmes, while others were referred through mental health services.

“Our main focus was to be outside as much as possible, and to allow time for introspection. We had nine young people, I think it worked really well for them. Everything was done together.

“A lot of young people are on a course because you have to get a job, or because you’re not feeling well. Whereas our programme was
quite broad, and it also was about reconnecting with yourself and with where you’re living,” said Hazel.

The ‘Self’ aspect of the course focused on the inner landscape, how we can find belonging in a community and a sense of place. The ‘Skills’ strand featured hands-on craft workshops, and the ‘Nature’ strand explored outer landscapes and the natural environment, as well as climate change.

Local Adventures

Said Hazel: “That outdoor element, (they learned that) you don’t have to be exercising to be outside, you don’t have to be living near a mountain, it was very accessible. We did it all in Birr town. We tapped into the whole idea of micro adventures – going to places that are adventurous, but are easily accessible outside of the programme.

“Some of what we did was giving the young people tools that they could use all the time, as opposed to doing things that they would need us in order to do again.

“I like going hiking and kayaking, but that’s not for everyone. We need to make nature accessible to everyone. It’s not an ‘out there’ thing, it’s all around us. A lot of the group were ‘bedroom people’, that’s where they feel safe and comfortable. So it’s nice to think that they might now feel safe and comfortable in their garden or in a park. It definitely had a positive impact on people’s moods.”

Local Herbs and Food Miles

The activities included journalling, herbalism, plant identification, filmmaking, photography, and ‘green woodwork’, which is woodwork without mechanical tools. The course also included a ‘food miles’ project.

“One week, we got all our food from Lidl for lunch; they went through the food miles and created posters of where all their food had come from. The following week, we tried to buy locally produced food from an organic shop,” Hazel added.

Not a ‘Buzzing’ Group (and that was fine)

“It might not have been a traditional ‘buzzing’ group. Sometimes there was a lot of silence, but people were very comfortable in that silence. There was a lot of producing of things without there being any pressure to produce. It happened quite organically throughout,” revealed Hazel.

An exhibition during Birr Vintage Week showed a film produced by the participants and photographs they took during the course.

– FLOW course participants were encouraged to take photographs during the course, these were then displayed at an exhibition

“Phenomenal”

She said that seeing the young people engage with guests at the exhibition “blew her mind”.

“Some of the young people that were showing guests around the exhibition, four months prior, they weren’t able to meet with me about joining the programme. They needed their occupational therapist, or their parents. It was a difficult process for them to even commit to doing a programme. And then they were in the public space with over 100 people. That was really phenomenal to watch.”

She continued: “Some of them started courses. It opened their eyes that they could do it, that they’r more than capable and that their social skills are better than they might give themselves credit for. And definitely a major result was that the young people felt that they could
self-regulate better.”

Run it Again!

According to Hazel, if funding was available, Offaly Local Development Company “would love to run it again, because the feedback was wholly positive”.

She concluded: “It was unique; we couldn’t find anything that wasn’ like a wellness retreat. It was a funded programme with a specific purpose of improving the wellbeing of young adults, with the blend of art and woodworking and the skills that were also acquired over the course. I couldn’t find anything (else like it), it’s quite a growing space.”

To book a place, or for information on running a similar course in your locality, contact Hazel on 087 7002521 or email hdaly@offalyldc.ie