Timely courses at family resource centre

Last year’s budget affected programmes run through Family Resource Centres nationwide. Gort FRC’s co-ordinatorAnnie Rozario spoke to The Clare Champion about what it is achieving against the tide of cuts.

It has been a difficult year for many community organisations, indeed for many communities, and according to Annie Rozario, the work of the FRC has never been more important.
“This has been a difficult year with Government cutbacks. We have to work with what we have and provide the best service possible. Obviously, we are concerned that there might be more cutbacks this year,” she stated.
One of the major projects undertaken by Gort FRC this year could hardly be more timely.
“We have 32 places available on our Suicide Assist programme taking place in September. The best way to describe the programme is that people sometimes do first aid courses, so if they come across someone who may have fallen, they know what to do. This is the same thing but for people who may be showing suicidal ideations. It shows people how to recognise the signs and how to deal with them. The workshop will look at what people at risk may need in terms of help from others and the idea is to train participants to reduce the immediate risk of suicide,” Annie explained.
“We are looking for people to take part in the course from all walks of life and all types of community organisations. Ideally, we would have representatives of the IFA, the ICA, Active Retirement, people working with teenagers, taxi drivers and publicans on the course, which will be held here in Gort,” she added.
According to Annie, the need for this sort of course has never been more evident.
“I would say there has been an increase in the number of people expressing suicidal ideation over the past few years. There have been some clusters in various areas outside of Gort. That, coupled with what is happening now in terms of the economy, means it has never been more important to run this course,” she outlined.
Economic deterioration has resulted in numerous people becoming unemployed and for many of them it is their first time signing on. For them, the FRC has been running computer classes over the past year.
“These classes were dedicated to people who perhaps got jobs straight out of school and never needed to know how to use a computer. Now they find themselves unemployed and needing information technology skills. Recently, we started dedicating Wednesday afternoons to people to come in for a cup of tea and a chat,” Annie said.
One point that Gort has been noted for in recent years is the high percentage of its population born abroad. However, as economic conditions have deteriorated, so too has the migrant population.
“We have been very busy providing support and advocacy for the migrant community. Quite a lot of people have gone home but since the weather has improved there seems to be some employment,” Annie commented.
Another service growing in popularity is a low-cost counselling service offered by the FRC.
“We felt there was a need for this in particular, given this economic climate in which relationships are under stress, people are under stress and children have very high expectations, perhaps never having had to go without,” Annie explained.
According to Annie, there has also been a noticeable increase in the numbers of people attending the Money Advice and Budgeting Service and the Citizens Information Centre, both of which operate out of the FRC on Church Street.
Among the other schemes run from the FRC is the Rainbows programme offering peer support for young people experiencing separation, bereavement or loss. There is also a Foróige youth club now operating from the centre.
The breast-feeding support group formed last year has proved extremely popular, with numbers availing of the programme close to capacity.
The resource centre also caters for lone parents, with a DIY course available for people who are parenting alone, be they separated, divorced, widowed or single.
“The reason we are having this is because we asked lone parents what they felt they needed and they said a DIY course. It just means that when a child’s bike breaks or a tile falls from the wall, people will be better equipped to deal with it,” said Annie.
“We also run a positive parenting programme. Last year, we had a number of people do a course on how to teach it, so this year the course will be run by people from the area, which is great and really embodies what community development is all about,” she added.
The FRC also runs a number of courses for older people as well as Fáilte Isteach, a community project with older volunteers welcoming new migrants through conversational English classes.
This week the FRC has a specially-themed window display. It is Pride Week and Gort FRC offers support to members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered community.
“Sometimes you do something like our current window display for Pride Week and it has an effect but you don’t see it immediately. This year we won a prize in the Gort St Patrick’s Day parade. We had people wearing t-shirts identifying the various groups we target and support. Some of them were wearing shirts with LGBT on them. The following week, three members of the LGBT community came in to us looking for support. It may have been a coincidence but when you do something like the window, someone notices and might mention it to someone else and the person who needs the support finds out that there is a safe place to come for support, or just to have a cup of tea and read the Gay Community News, which we get here,” she said.
For details of any of the programmes run by Gort FRC or to sign up to take part in the Suicide Assist programme, contact the FRC by telephone on 091 630902 or email coordinator@gortfrc.com.