2022

Laois Comhairle na nÓg’s topic for this year is on the Mental Health. They are currently finalizing surveys to send out to all secondary schools, Youthreach and the Family Resource Centre. In May they hosted a family Colour Run to get all the community involved.

A day of fun at Laois Comhairle Na nÓg ‘s Colour Run last Friday 13th May along the grand canal in Vicarstown –  their aim with this event was to create memories, raise awareness about mental health and to bring a community together

In keeping with the mental health theme, members are becoming more active, meeting every two weeks for a walk to give new members the opportunity to get to know everyone. Some members are taking part in a 6 week Wellness Workshop program to improve mental health by developing their life skills.

Each member from Comhairle is assigned to look after the notice board in their local area, school, Youthreach, and Family Resource Centre to spread awareness of the work of Comhairle.

News

Two members of Laois Comhairle na nÓg  attended and spoke at the day-long TEDxYouth conference in the Lexicon Theatre in Dún Laoghaire in November 2021.

TEDxYouth is aimed at secondary school students who hold live debates, hands-on activities and conversations. Budding scientists, designers, technologists, explorers, artists, performers share short talks, serving both as a source of knowledge and inspiration for youth around the globe.

Discussions centre on global, national, regional and local issues affecting young people and their solutions to some of the problems they face. Read the full feature in the Laois Nationalist here.

Current Topics

Laois Comhairle na nÓg were working on two topics in 2021:

  • Individuality
  • Body Image

Update from steering committee meeting:

Comhairle members brought up the lack of public seating and bins as an issue in the Laois community. The members sent in a report to the council to express their concerns and are awaiting a response.

Comhairle members stay active during Covid crisis

  • Paint my rock walk. The nature of the walk is to spread positivity while people are out for a walk. The members have decided on the walkway at the Slievebloom Mountains and ask that when people go for a walk, they take a rock home with them, paint it and return it on their next walk there. The young people will also take pictures of the rocks while on their walks  to share on social media
  • Sharing everyday heroes stories on Instagram

Previous Topics

Laois Comhairle na nÓg chose to work on the following topic in 2020: Relationships and LGBTI

Laois Comhairle were working on the topic of Body Image and Self-Confidence in 2019.

2018
Laois Comhairle have been working on the topics of Education and the development of life skills and de-stressing skills lacking in formal education. They have developed an app with a series of videos which were designed, directed, filmed and edited by the Comhairle members supported by with Mycro film company who worked with the young people to develop their skills.  The app was launched in December 2018.

2017
Laois Comhairle’s topic for 2017 was education. We have identified a need for life-skills lessons in schools and how to help young people cope with stress. Our project took the form of research, consultations and analysis of information on the current facilities, school systems and information available to young people: we will look at technology and potentially develop an app for schools.

2016
Laois Comhairle’s primary topic for 2016 – 17 was youth friendly spaces. We carried out research, consultation and analysis of information on the current facilities, transport & information available to young people. We surveyed young people countywide to identify gaps and needs. We set up noticeboards in every school highlighting local youth facilities and carry out a survey of young people county wide to identify gaps and needs.

Previous years:
Laois Comhairle completed their work on the topic of mental health in 2015, We had been working on the development of iFest – a festival for young people to promote positive mental health, and to educate young people about bullying and its effect on a young person’s mental health. Laois Comhairle  hosted our #LetsGoMental2015 event on 12th July. This was one of the 31 regional events, forming part of the national  ‘Lets Go Mental: do something for your mental health today’ campaign.

Following on from the success of the “IMind” Youth Mental Health conference (see below), a programme to promote mental health awareness through a billboard campaign and a toolkit for delivery to students in secondary schools across Laois is ngoing. Our “Be the True You” body image project has been completed and delivered with great success.

In 2012-13, Laois Comhairle worked on an awareness campaign for young people – “IMIND”. The focus of the project was on developing awareness around the concept of “IMIND – Stay Connected” and minding your mental health by staying connected to friends, family and your local community, but most importantly with yourself.

The campaign involved the creation of a survey which was devised for young people in relation to minding your health and mental health and this survey was conducted among 2013 AGM delegates. Information from the survey will form the basis of the toolkit in 2014. An awareness campaign was also devised comprising competitions, social media outlets and purchase of awareness material, e.g., wristbands etc, and this campaign was launched at the Comhairle AGM 2013.