Volunteering on Foroige's Big Brother and Big Sister scheme changed my outlook on life
A POSITIVE PROGRAMME: The Big Brother Big Sister scheme has been running in Cork for more than 10 years. They are currently recruiting new volunteers to pair with young people seeking to use the programme. Picture: Stock
FOR youth work schemes all over the world, the idea of a ‘sibling’ programme has been a mainstay of their services.
Pairing working adult volunteers, with the experience of a lifetime, with young people at a crossroads in theirs has long fostered mutually beneficial relationships, providing the young person with purpose and direction as they move forward with careers and study.
Foróige in Cork city provides training for prospective new ‘big brothers’ and ‘big sisters’ for its programme, at the project’s headquarters on Watercourse Road.
Programme facilitator Sinéad Murphy explains how the idea found its way to Cork, and how it was implemented not just in the inner-city, but at Foróige clubs around the country.
“It came from America, a programme that’s been running there for well over 100 years at this point. We would have brought it in Ireland in the early-2000s. A pilot programme was set up in Galway in 2003, 2004. We’ve had it in Cork since 2007.
“The siblings will meet up once a week, usually for an hour or two, to go for a coffee and a chat, or do fun activities. It’s a commitment for a year: based on studies here and internationally, for the best benefit of a programme for a child, it should be running for a minimum of a year. It’s not something you can dip in and out of — you’re making a commitment to this young person.”
For the programme, Foróige liaises with local community organisations and agencies to ascertain young people’s strengths, in order to match them with an adult that can help develop them further.
“We don’t seek them out as such — they might come to us through an agency that refer them to us, they might be sent to us through school, through a parent or a youth worker.
“We have young people from all over the city and parts of the county — it’s not targeted areas, as we don’t want to stigmatise young people over where they’re from, we work with them on the basis of individual need.”
For Sinead, the reward is in seeing the results of matches, as bigger siblings spend time developing ongoing friendships and mentorships with their charges as their time in the programme moves on.
“You can tell from seeing matches, you can see confidence and self-esteem building for a young person when they’re involved. I’ve clearly seen it, in my time working with people, I can see that change. Definitely, it’s very positive in terms of promoting school, and school completion, having a goal regarding what they’d like to do after second level… it definitely does work for young people in terms of development, goal-setting, and helping them with independence and decision-making.”
At present, the programme is in recruitment mode, as the number of children and teenagers seeking mentorship or being referred is beginning to surpass the number of adults currently able to commit.
Sinead explained how people can get involved.
“Contact us directly. We have a Facebook page now, ‘Big Brother Big Sister Cork’, and you can get in touch via our website.
“We arrange to meet people on an individual basis, where we chat with them, explain what’s involved, and it goes from there. It’s a stringent recruitment process, because it’s a one-to-one situation, and we have to ensure they’re the right person for the role, really.
“There are interviews, references, garda vetting, big-sibling training and child-protection training. It can be a lot more difficult also to get male volunteers, but we’re always looking.”
Getting involved with the programme came along at the right time for Jamie Halpin, as his academic career in social work required something a little extra to ground him in his discipline.
Working with young people helped broaden his understanding of the demands of his course and the work that would follow.
“Originally, I was going to study Social Work in UCC. I met with the director, she recommended that I do some volunteer work before going into it, so that sparked my interest.
“I went to VolunteerCork on North Main Street, asked for some help with voluntary work, and the Big Brother/Big Sister programme was the one that appealed to me. I contacted them, had an interview with a case worker, and it went from there, and I haven’t looked back.”
Of course, it’s not just a one-way exchange. While the aim is to link up with young people and provide them with direction and encouragement, the perspective that such a relationship can bring to the big sibling bears much consideration, while the supports that are available to him via the programme have helped him in other ways.
“Getting involved with the programme is one of the, if not the most, rewarding things I’ve ever done. For me, the main thing is it’s helped me become a far more responsible adult.
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