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Sponsored Training Opportunity in Limerick & Clare
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Sponsored Training Opportunity in Limerick & Clare

The JP McManus Benevolent Fund and Parents Plus are offering sponsorship for free facilitator training places to 10 professionals providing services to adolescents and young adults with additional support needs in counties Limerick and Clare. This sponsorship opportunity will also include materials in 2025.

Last year, Parents Plus was grateful to receive funding from the JP McManus Benevolent Fund to sponsor 40 professionals in Limerick and Clare to train in Parents Plus programmes. Now, we are inviting suitably qualified practitioners and parent volunteers in Limerick and Clare to apply for one of the ten remaining free places on the  evidence-based Parents Plus Special Needs programme (PPSN). Applicants must be working with, supporting, or volunteering with families of young people who have additional support needs.

The funding will provide an opportunity to practitioners and services that offer support to parents of children and young people who have additional support needs across adolescent and young adult age ranges. Charities, community services and family resource centres can choose to train a number of team members in the programme.

Applications for sponsorship are invited from professionals and parent volunteers from the following agencies:

  • Family Resource Centre staff who work with parents of young people who have additional needs
  • Parent volunteers who may have lived experience raising a teenager/young adult who has additional needs
  • Staff or parent volunteers from community organisations or charities who support families of young people who have additional needs, and
  • Primary Care professionals who support families of teenagers with additional needs.

We are encouraging collaborations across local agencies to provide the programmes (depending on age group) to families in need of this support.  This could involve, for example, a professional from a Primary Care Team working with a community family support service or parent peer-support organisation to run a Special Needs programme.

Agencies participating will agree to take part in the associated evaluation of the programmes being conducted by Parents Plus.

Included in the Sponsorship Opportunity 

  • Programme Training modules (PPSN 4 Modules)
  • Facilitator Manual and first set of parent books for your parent programme
  • Post-training implementation support and coaching

Apply Now

If you have any queries about this initiative or would like to request an application form, please email Parents Plus Disability Programmes Lead, Ciara Ni Raghallaigh, at ciaranir@parentsplus.ie.

Parents Plus would like to express our continued appreciation to the JP McManus Benevolent Fund for making this opportunity possible so  that more Parents Plus programmes can reach families in need of support in the Limerick and Clare regions.

 

Parents Plus Special Needs Programme (PPSN)

The Parents Plus Special Needs Programme (PPSN) is a parenting support programme for parents/guardians of adolescents and young adults, 11-25 years, with an intellectual disability. PPSN is run with at least 7 weekly sessions. The programme also involves a follow-up group support session two months after the 7 week core programme is completed. It was developed to respond to the complex needs of young people with an intellectual disability and their families. It consists of group sessions delivered to support parents to:

  • Manage behaviour and emotional problems
  • Deal with puberty, sexuality and relationships
  • Reduce their own stress as parents
  • Support their child’s education
  • Prepare their young person for adulthood and future transitions

The facilitator training will be delivered over 4 modules on Zoom from 9.15am to 1.15pm. It is practical and solution-focused and will ensure you get an in-depth understanding of the programme content, skills in delivering the programme whether you run face-to-face or online sessions with families.

The Parents Plus Special Needs Programme (PPSN) is the first international, evidence-based parenting programme with proven benefits for families with an adolescent with an intellectual disability. A Randomised Controlled Trial (2019/2020) with TCD Psychology Department, reported significant improvements in problem behaviours, parental satisfaction and self-efficacy, and goal attainment.

You’ll find more information about the Parents Plus Special Needs Programme here.

Note: The PPSN topics are also relevant for parents of younger children who have a severe intellectual disability and complex needs and it can be delivered with these families as a group programme by trained facilitators.

Please pass details of this sponsorship opportunity to your colleagues or parent-led groups in Co. Limerick and Co. Clare. If your colleagues or parent volunteers support parents/guardians/carers  of young people who have additional support needs they can apply for this sponsorship. Further information on PPSN and its  impact for young people, parents and families, and PPSN Randomised Controlled Trial results are available on the Parents Plus website www.parentsplus.ie/research