October 2016 NUI Galway to host ISPCC Youth Mentoring Conference

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) will hold an international conference on Quality Outcomes in Youth Mentoring on Thursday, 13 October, in NUI Galway. The event takes place in conjunction with the Global Youth Mentoring Network.

Featuring international speakers as well as academics and practitioners from Ireland, the conference will highlight how using trained volunteer adult mentors to support young people can have positive outcomes for young people dealing with challenges and transitions in their lives.

Mentoring is used by organisations such as the ISPCC and Foróige in Ireland, to support young people with a range of needs. While mentoring, as a means of providing social support for young people is well-established, the factors that contribute to high quality outcomes for young people are less clear. This conference will explore research and evidence based practice in relation to Youth Mentoring with a focus on real life examples of what works in practice.  The factors that contribute to high quality mentoring programmes and some of the challenges of measuring outcomes in everyday contexts will be examined along with guidelines for practice improvement.

Speakers on the day will include Professor Pat Dolan, UNESCO Chair in Children, Civic and Youth Engagement from NUI Galway, Grainia Long from the ISPCC and Séan Campbell, CEO of Foróige.

Tess Noonan, Assistant Director for Quality and Risk for the ISPCC, stated: “This conference will be particularly helpful for anyone who is interested in providing social support for young people. The topics which will be covered will vary from building resilience in young people to why youth mentoring matters, from some of the most influential people working with young people. It promises to be an informative day and since it is free to attend, we would encourage anyone with an interest to join us.”

Dr Bernadine Brady, Lecturer and Senior Researcher at UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, NUI Galway stated: “We are delighted to be hosting this conference, and contributing to the academic study of youth mentoring. Supporting youth organisations to measure and evaluate programmes such as mentoring and to understand why certain practices are effective is key to ensuring that young people get access to the best possible services. We look forward to a really interesting day, and encourage anyone working with young people or considering using a mentoring model to attend.”

This event is free to attend, registration is via Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/quality-outcomes-in-youth-mentoring-tickets-26464909256.

ENDS