Youth Work Ireland Galway has been providing a free counselling service for young people from Galway City and Galway County since 2011. The counselling service for young people aged 12-21 years has supported almost 2,000 young people since then. The service based in Galway City, Tuam, Loughrea and Ballinasloe provides 16 hours counselling weekly, funded by the HSE, Tusla, fundraising and donations. Earlier this year we were very fortunate to receive funding from Pobal’s Community Resilience Fund, through the Children and Young People’s Services Committee, to extend the service to Connemara, Gort and Athenry.
The counsellors with Youth Work Ireland Galway are all fully qualified and accredited, they provide a safe place to talk and be listened to, to figure things out. It is not a place for a lecture or a telling off. A counsellor is someone to talk to who treats you with respect and does their best to try and listen carefully to what a young person has to say. The service provides short term counselling and is of huge benefit for young people, but especially as they deal with the impact of COVID-19, lockdown and the disruption to their usual routine of school and college.
Young people or their parents/guardians, schools or other organisations, can find out more about how to make an appointment by contacting [email protected] or contact Aisling Dermody at 086-0247763. For now, appointments are being offered remotely and Aisling can discuss how this takes place once you contact her.
For further information on the counselling service, or if you would like to help fundraise for the service, please contact the Counselling Coordinator, Deirdre Bermingham at 087-3291931 [email protected]
