Youth Mental Health Signposting Tool
What is it?
The youth mental health signposting tool aims to provide young people, parents, caregivers, and those working with young people, with reliable up to date information on where to access supports and services at both a local and national level for a variety of mental health issues.
To use it, simply select the issue affecting your mental health or the mental health of the young person you are supporting and the area in which you live.
Services
You can narrow your search by choosing a region, a service offered, or both.
Brill Family Resource Centre
Aim to support families and young people on the enhancement of education and development for the community. Provides a range of universal targets like family supports, After school horus education for 2nd level pupils, suppoerts for unemployed, PArentchild+, Waterford parent hub, ATEC community education courses, Creative therapies: horticuluture, play art and music, social clubs for parents of children with additional needs
Bud’s Family Resource Centre
Provides facilities and supports for families and individuals in the commuinty. Offers many services to the community. Low cost children and adult counselling, youth and children groups, further education supports, mental health and wellbeing workshops and self development programmes.
C-Saw (Community Suicide Awareness Workers South Tipperary)
Provide services aimed at reducing the number of suicides in Souith Tipperary. Targeted age: 18+ . Drop in listening service, Free phone listening service, Free phone text service, offer free counselling
Cabra and Drumcondra Village Counselling Service
Cabra & Drumcondra Village Counselling Service provides child, family and adolescent counselling and psychotherapy. Based on a sliding scale.
Cabra For Youth
Cabra for Youth is a community based independent youth service that has been working with young people aged 10-24 years in the greater Cabra area since 2008. They offer young people in Cabra a fun, safe and supportive environment within which they can voluntarily engage in programmes and activities based on their needs and interests. Cabra for Youths priority is to promote and encourage the active participation of young people from the Greater Cabra Area who are deemed to be at risk, vulnerable, and/or marginalised within our community.
Cabra for Youth also offers counselling for 12-21-year-olds through the collaboration project, the Listen Project. The Listen Project is a free early intervention service with up to 9 sessions available to those that need the service. Call 1800 303 638 between 4 pm to 6 pm, Monday to Friday, to talk directly to a youth worker about the project.
Cairdeas Kilmovee Family Resource Centre
Cairdeas Family Resource Centre is in the heart of the community of Kilmovee and serves the town and surrounding areas. The FRC works with communities and individuals to improve outcomes around children’s education, youth development and parent and family support. The FRC provides a low-cost one-to-one counselling service for adolescents aged 12-18.
Candle Community Trust
Community Project in Ballyfermot, child centred service addressing the needs of young people. Provides appropriate space for the nurturing and development of young people. Offers a variety of training programmes for young people from marginalised groups, therapeutic services as well as counselling and psychotherapy at a reduced rate
Cara House Family Resource Centre
Includes activities, courses and interest groups as well as services, provides a valuable resource for the Letterkenny community from cradle to grave. Offers peer support, friendship and acceptance. Socially inclusive offering high quality services and activities offered at a rate that makes them accessible to all. Runs youth service, training and education for young people as well as health and wellbeing courses.
CARI
CARI (Children at Risk in Ireland) provides child-centred therapy for children and adolescents affected by sexual abuse. CARI also provides therapy to children up to 12 years of age who present with sexually harmful behaviour.
Lo-call HELPLINE 0818 925 567 for professionals and parents seeking advice on support and counselling for children who have been sexually abused. Child & Adolescent Therapy is also available on a sliding scale cost, depending on people’s circumstances.
CARI have bases in Limerick, Dublin and Wexford, details for each centre can be found on their website.
Nationwide Services
Exchange House Ireland- National Travellers Service
Exchange House Ireland National Travellers service is a leading provider of front-line support services to Travellers, many of whom are marginalised. Exchange House is a large provider of youth services to the Traveller Community in the greater Dublin area.
Among the supports and services on offer are onsite activities and programmes including Arts, leadership, anti-bullying, and educational opportunities. The organisation also provides detached youth work. Family support programmes are available.
In addition, Exchange House provides the National Traveller Mental Health Service, which provides a counselling service for travellers to help them deal with the issues affecting them. This service provides counselling to those 18 years and older.
FirstLight
FirstLight offers free professional support and provides information to families in Ireland that have experienced the sudden, unexpected death of their child if aged from 0 to 18 years. They provide support to all family members who have lost a child (up to 12 years of age) in a number of ways including
(1) Crisis Intervention- by providing support around the time of death (call their crisis line – 087 2423777)
(2) Free Counselling through their list of counsellors around the country
(3) Family weekends
(4) Phone support
(5)Children’s groups and more.
Fóroige
Fóroige is a national Youth Organisation that has Youth Projects and Youth Clubs all over Ireland. Fóroige aims to enable young people to involve themselves consciously and actively in their development and in the development of society. Fóroige offers a wide range of development programmes for young people, details of which can be found on their website. Foróige groups and clubs operate Nationwide, to view a map of services in your area, go to: https://www.foroige.ie/foroige-map
GROW Mental Health Ireland
Find out about the many GROW meetings across the country on their INFOLINE @ 0818 474 474 and website @ https://grow.ie/join-a-support-group/. The purpose of the meetings is to support people who have or had a mental health illness. Some youth-specific groups take place for people aged 18-30 years. There is also the option to join online support meetings. Check the website for more information.
HSE – Mental Health
This website aims to improve awareness and understanding of mental health and well-being in Ireland. You will find tips for minding your mental health and supporting others. The website is also useful to help you search for supports in your local area. It also gives you information about what to do when someone tells you they are suicidal or self-harming.
I Fight Depression
The iFightDepression tool is a multilingual internet-based guided self-management tool for individuals with mild to moderate depression. The iFightDepression website promotes greater knowledge of and awareness of depression with the aim of increasing recognition of depression and decreasing the associated stigma.
Inclusion Ireland
Inclusion Ireland is the National is the National Association for People with an Intellectual Disability.
They work towards the full inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities by supporting people to have their voices heard and advocating for rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. They also run a number of programme and have a variety of resources available on their website.
Involve
Involve delivers a wide range of programmes for young Travellers through their six centres across Ireland; details of the centres can be found on the Youth Services section of their website. Mental health promotion work is woven through these programmes; one example is the No Shame Mental Health Project
Irish Wheelchair Association
The Irish Wheelchair Association provides a wide range of services for people with physical disabilities. They have a young adult sevice designed to support young adults with physical disabilities to pursue their goals and build confidence. They offer life skills training to young adults in Clontarf, Kilkenny and Wexford.
The development of the YMHS tool
In 2015, the NYHP recognised the need to capture the voice of the sector in more depth through a rapid mental health needs assessment. One of the key findings from the Mental Health Needs Assessment was the need to support organisations, practitioners, and young people to access appropriate services. The Youth Mental Health Signposting tool was developed in response to this need.
The tool was revamped in 2024 to meet the emerging needs being communicated to the NYHP by Youth Workers and other professionals through consultation and engagement in the programme’s training and workshops.
We endeavour to keep this tool up to date. However, we are aware that new services and initiatives are being developed and launched all the time.
If you have a new service or an existing one not currently on the tool that you believe should be included, please add your information below.
Many thanks
The National Youth Health Programme would like to acknowledge the time, input and resources provided by a range of organsiations which contributed to the development of Youth Mental Health Signposting tool.
Disclaimer
The content of Youth Mental Health Signposting is provided for information purposes only. The National Youth Council of Ireland is not responsible for any interaction or outcomes between a client and a service provider listed. The NYCI does not endorse any professional or programme included in it map.