News

Banteer Drama Group host performance in aid of Matt Talbot Services

2012-03-24T10:58:54+00:00

Banteer Drama Group hosted a performance of “My Wife’s Family” on Saturday 24th March 2012 at the Glen Theatre, Banteer in aid of Matt Talbot Services. €475 was raised on the night & we’d like to thank the cast & all those who attended on the night. An enjoyable evening was had by all.

MTS and UCC Partnerships

2012-01-04T10:39:52+00:00

Matt Talbot Services continues to work with University College Cork to ensure that our work is research driven and evidenced based. Kevin Murphy from the Department of Pharmacy is progressing well in his study on benzodiazepine abuse. Prof. John Groeger from Applied Psychology is working with the organisation to support the measurement of outcomes and three MA Applied Psychology Students start in January 2012.
Staff from Matt Talbot Services are also in contact with Dr Ursula Kilkelly who kindly facilitated Geraldine Ring and Dr Sharon Lambert in the UCC Summer School on children’s research. Olive O Riordan continues to lecture on the LLM Law Course. Thanks to all in UCC for their continued support

Fundraising Initiatives

2011-12-31T10:50:45+00:00

Fundraising Initiatives
Many thanks to Judge Con O’Leary and the Courts Service for the continued support to Matt Talbot Services throughout the year. The additional funds are being utilised to enhance & develop our service including new initiatives such as the sibling support group.
Staff & parents have been involved in surveys & the Supervalu “bag pack” during the year to further our fundraising drive. We would like to say a huge thankyou to all who have participated. Well done!
Students at CIT donated their lunch tips from 2011, which was a further boost of €443 to our funds. We’d like to thank them for their continued support to MTS.
A large contingent of MTS Staff, friends & ladies took part in the ‘30th’ Cork Ladies Mini Marathon in September. It was another successful event, with additional interest raised for MTS by the students of CIT who entertained the runners/ walkers & onlookers after the event with an impromptu dance routine on the main stage. Many thanks to Ger & Noreen from Canty’s Bar who again supplied much needed refreshments afterwards, your support is greatly appreciated.
Further challenges are ahead for the forthcoming year & ideas for new fundraising initiatives & support are always welcome. We continue to be a collection point for mobile phones & printer cartridges & these can be handed in to Trabeg at reception. We will be setting up a fundraising committee in the Spring & volunteers are more than welcome. Please contact Suzanne on 021 4896400

Youth Enterprise Scheme

2011-12-12T10:07:02+00:00

Train the Trainer
In October four of the project workers engaged in the Fetac Level 6 Train the Trainer programme, in conjunction with Cork Chamber, in an effort to improve their ability to develop and deliver training programmes for the young people. The course was a great success and the participants are anxiously awaiting their results in January!!
Christmas Project
All staff and young people were asked to create a piece of work (art, writing, woodcraft etc) which embodied their own personal view of what the Youth Enterprise Scheme means to them. The collection of work was unveiled at the Annual Christmas Dinner and all agreed that the level of thought, care and energy put into the projects was outstanding. Some examples of the work were a photography project depicting the people and objects that are part of the centre, a painting presenting all the sayings and expressions used by the young people and a sculpture made of broken table tennis bats.
Leaving Cert Christmas Exams
The Leaving Cert students undertook their Christmas exams in December and are awaiting results.
Art Therapy
An Art Therapy student from the Crawford College of Art and Design began her placement with the Youth Enterprise Scheme before Christmas. This is our second year facilitating a student from this field of work.

A Review of 2011

2011-12-05T10:22:06+00:00

2011 was a busy year in Matt Talbot Services. Two hundred and two young people attended the day treatment centre and 10% of them went onto attend residential treatment in Cara Lodge.
The family programme continued to grow and approx. 392 parents/careers attend individual counselling sessions and parent support group. This expanded with the introduction of a sibling support group for young people aged between 14 and 18 who are living with a sibling involved in substance abuse.
The predominant drugs of choice were alcohol, cannabis and benzodiazepines. The largest source of referral was from families followed by Garda Juvenile Liaison Officers, Social Workers, Self and other community organisations. The large numbers of referrals from family members indicates that Matt Talbot Services is an organisation that is recognised as approachable and effective.

Trabeg Lawn News

2011-12-01T05:52:14+00:00

2011 was a busy year in Trabeg with the number of new referrals exceeding those of 2010 by October. There have been quite a number of visitors to Trabeg. Minister Kathleen Lynch came to visit us in October. The Minister enjoyed a tour of the premises and she stated that she had gotten very positive reports from a number of sources about MTS. Jerry Buttimer TD also visited us and had a lovely welcome to Trabeg Lawn with lunch and a brief introduction to the organisation and was impressed with the work being undertaken All of the Juvenile Liaison officers in Cork were invited to join the Trabeg staff for lunch, they enjoyed the time with the staff while getting to know more about the services we offer. Cork Simon also came for a site visit and it was great to hear about all the hard work they do. We returned this with a visit of our own to the Simon Community on Anderson Quay.
The electronic patient system (EPS) has been implemented as part of a national pilot in Trabeg Lawn and currently the counselling staff is using it on an on-going basis to improve service delivery. Our progress with QuADs (Quality Standards in Alcohol and Drugs Services) is very good.
The staff in Trabeg Lawn has also had training in a range of areas. Staff attended an Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) course - facilitated by Marie Delaney. This course provides an awareness of various approaches to communication and personal development. Staff also attended the HSE’s Strengthening Family’s, Safe Talk and Assist.
Dr Sharon Lambert (Manager) gave a talk at the Benzodiazepine Conference as part of Drugs Awareness week in Cork. We are currently working on some new developments. The Sibling’s Support Group (MYsPaCe) has started in Trabeg Lawn. It takes place on Wednesday afternoons from 4 until 6 o clock. It is a support group for young people (boys and girls) between the ages of 13 and 17 who have been affected by siblings’ use of drugs and alcohol. It is currently in the pilot stage and going well. It is facilitated by Sarah Hardiman and Áine O Sullivan who are both currently working in Trabeg Lawn as interns on the Jobsbridge scheme. Due to demand, we are about to start a pilot peer mentoring service for the fathers within the organisation this will be co-facilitated with the Counselling and Health Studies Unit in University College Cork.
We received a number of generous donations which will enable us to continue with the upgrade of the building in Trabeg, we are so appreciative of this. We have also been able to do work on the premises and grounds with help from the TUS initiative and the Probation Service Community Service Workers.
The mothers and fathers groups continue to run successfully so much so that the mothers group is running twice a week to facilitate the large numbers.

Cara Lodge

2011-11-15T07:45:17+00:00

Cara Lodge underwent a three day inspection by the HSE in July. We were inspected in accordance with the National Standards for Residential Childcare Centres. During the inspection there were interviews conducted with young people, parents, outside agencies and the staff and management of Cara Lodge. The overall feeling was that it went very well and the initial draft report commented on the level of care the young people and their families receive from the staff in Cara Lodge. We are happy to announce that in our previous report three years ago we received nine recommendations; however, this time with higher standards to be achieved, we received seven.

Minister Roisin Shorthall visited the young people and parents of Cara Lodge during the month of November. She had the pleasure of meeting with a group of young people and was humbled by their experiences and their willingness to be open and honest in the sharing of their stories and also at their confidence to put out their needs to her. She met also with a group of parents who again shared their experiences of MTS and how it had helped their families and also of the things that needed to be put in place to ensure the work is continued.

Olive O’Riordan, Unit Manager, was invited to address the Law Faculty in UCC to talk about the role of drugs and alcohol in the legal problems facing young people.
Cara Lodge participated in the Crossroads Drug Intervention and Prevention programme with Roger Metha whereby the young people had an opportunity to explore their use through music by examining the lyrics of the music they listen to, how it makes them feel, how they relate to the music
The staff team in Cara Lodge underwent two days training in relation to staff support and team building to maintain the strength in the current team. They are also participating in Assist Training.
Cara Lodge organised a bag pack on the 15th of October in Supervalu in Bandon and with support from parents and staff from the organisation raised over E1200.
The renovation and refurbishment of the dining room in Cara Lodge is now complete and we are very pleased with the result which has created a more spacious, homely atmosphere at mealtimes.
Cara Lodge is saddened by the retirement of our much loved maintenance man Mike Fox. After eight years of dedicated service to the young people in Cara Lodge, Mike will be greatly missed by the staff and young people of MTS. Mikes personality, character and overall charm and good nature ensured he was very much entrenched in Cara Lodge. We wish him all the best in his retirement and hope he finally gets a chance to put his feet up.

National Community Detox Pilot 2012

2011-10-25T10:29:55+00:00

The progression Routes Initiative identified a number of needs in relation to service users who wished to undergo detoxification from certain drugs (i.e benzodiazepines and methadone) in the community. In 2007 with the assistance of an inter-agency group they began developing a community detox protocol. The protocol identifies the minimum standards required for the delivery of a community detox; medical support from doctors and psycho-social supports from a community keyworker. In addition a broker for each region would be nominated to support this work and raise awareness Edel Foley from Matt Talbot Services was nominated as the broker for the Southern Region, as the broker was required to have a background in nursing and in drug and alcohol services. Edel is a Registered General Nurse and also has a Masters in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. She is currently a senior counsellor in Matt Talbot Services and thus is aware of the needs of service users and community workers. Her work is being supported by the HSE in particular Joe Kirby, the National Rehabilitation Framework Co-ordinator for the Cork/Kerry region. A keyworker, service user or Doctor can make referrals to the broker. The broker acts as sign post for all these individuals so they can successfully link together and work collaboratively, where there are any complications the broker can attempt to support the identification of solutions.
The National Community Detox Pilot is designed to provide support in a structured and safe way for those who wish to complete detoxification within their own communities. For more details contact 0214896400.

Minister Launches YES Project

2011-10-03T11:57:03+00:00

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald TD officially opened a new, innovative and exciting Training and Activity Centre in Matt Talbot Adolescent Services (MTAS), Tramore Road, Cork.
The YES project is funded by the Probation Service and FAS and provides education and training to young people at risk. A number of FETAC courses are run in the project which to date has been very successful development.
During her visit the Minister issued a number of awards to the young people and she was presented with a beautiful painting completed by the young people. She also facilitated a meeting with representatives from the parents’ service user forum.
They highlighted abuse of alcohol and drugs as one of the most significant threats to public health in this country. The parents felt that there was a misconception about children and young people abusing drugs/alcohol who are no longer just minorities, offenders, or people from low-income neighbourhoods especially with certain drug trends i.e. prescription drugs. They were especially concerned about the link between mental health issues & substance misuse. They were very honest in their discussions and the Minister thanked them profusely.
The Minister commented on the warm atmosphere of the building and the people, and that it was wonderful to meet the young people and their parents. She stated that it was refreshing that the young people’s personalities are being accepted and nurtured and that it was fantastic to see the cross collaboration of the services; FAS and Probation.
The official launch was well attended and included the new National Director for Children and Family Services Gordon Jeyes, Dara Murphy TD, Mr Sean Redmond - Irish Youth Justice Service, Brian Dack, and Rosemary Fox Probation Services.

Ladies Mini Marathon

2011-08-29T16:33:42+00:00

Okay all you girls and “boys” Matt Talbot Services are looking for runners, walkers and crawlers for the Womens Mini Marathon on 25th September. Matt Talbot Services provides a free and confidential service for young people and their families who are experiencing
drug and alcohol problems. Please, please, please join us on 25th September for a fun day and help raise some badly needed funds for this fantastic service. Free T-shirts available for participants. You can email dayprogramme@mtas.ie or contact Hilda on 0867951245 or Ciara on 0867951276 for sponsorship cards. Looking forward to hearing from you.

The race will start at 1 p.m. from the City end of Centre Park Road, and will cover a four-mile course taking in Centre Park Road, The Marina, Blackrock Village, Ballintemple, Monahan Road and will finish in Kennedy Park.