About Us
Impacting Young Lives, Together
Youth Work Ireland is the largest youth organisation in Ireland. We are made up of 20 Local Member Youth Services and a national office. We support our members to deliver an Integrated Youth Services Model to young people in their communities. This means that young people around Ireland can avail of a whole range of services and supports if and when they need them.
We actively engage with over 76,000 young people every week. Over the years we have developed highly innovative services, supports and programmes for young people between the ages of 10-25 years, including mental health supports, resilience building, anxiety programmes, drug and alcohol supports, LGBT+ youth work, club development, employability programmes, counselling services, rural out reach and fun safe spaces for young people to gather.
"Our vision is an Ireland of equality, access and participation for all young people"
Our Beliefs
- We believe in local services led by local people
- We believe that we are stronger working together
- We always see the best in people
- We trust each other
- We value people’s opinions
- We believe in the positive contribution of youth work
- We value the contribution of all volunteers
- We believe that we can and do change the world
- We value leadership by young people
- We value learning
- We value voluntary participation
- We believe in serious fun
Our Mission is "to work together with our Member Youth Services to inspire, educate and empower all young people"
Our Integrated Youth Services Model
The model we use to deliver our services is a highly innovative process – our Intergrated Services Model. This is based on international best practice and ensures that volunteers and young people have access to a range of supports and services. Crucially this approach enables the delivery of tailored, targeted supports and responses in the local community and at the same time creating a portal to a range of supports which young people and volunteers can access through their local youth club, café, project or service. In short this means that regardless of where a young person is located, or what supports they need, they can access those supports in their local youth service. So our youth clubs, youth cafés, information centres and projects become a portal to an entire suite of supports and services for young people.
In order to do this we partner with strategic partner organisation with particular expertise, in order to offer young people a comprehensive support package. We are a not-for-profit organisation and are financially supported by a range of statutory organisations to carry out this work.
Integrated Youth Services Evidence Review
In 2019 we commissioned an external evidence review of our Youth Services Model which showed that there is strong evidence from the qualitative work that the Youth Work Ireland model makes a difference to young people, as well as to external services and wider society and that integrated working is likely to play a key role.
Outcomes of our Work
Through our network of clubs, projects, drop in centres, youth information centres, youth cafés, music, arts, citizenship programmes and other outlets, we promote an open, integrated and accessible approach to working with young people.
As a Federation of local youth services run by local people, we are uniquely placed to reach young people in their local communities around Ireland. We work to develop the potential of these young people and to strengthen communities in Ireland through quality youth services.
Young people are at the heart of our organisation and are supported with excellent standards in volunteering, leaders and programme services. Many young people do not have a safe place to go where they can have a sense of belonging, when they can have a positive relationship with adults and where people believe in them. We offer young people from all backgrounds a place to go, a listening ear and support if it’s needed. The services are run by local people and the programmes are run based on the needs of the local community. Positive relationships between young people and adults ensure that young people thrive and are on the road to reaching their potential as well rounded adults.
Feedback and Complaints Policy and Procedures
Youth Work Ireland is open to feedback both positive and negative. We are committed to taking seriously any complaint that concerned individuals have about our activities and equally we welcome suggestions and observations that can lead to learning and improvements.
Please read our Complaints Policy here>>
If you would like any further information on this, please contact our Complaints Officer
