Programme
During the 1970’s and 80’s Clare and Limerick Youth Services, under the guidance of Dr. Leslie Button, developed the Social and Personal Developmental Groupwork Programme – now called the Buttons Programme. One of the first evidence based youth work programmes it was specifically designed to engage young people, aged 15 and over, in topics of relevance in their lives. Since then thousands of young people have benefited from participation in this programme.
Module 1 of the programme deals primarily with the areas of communication skills and relationships, particularly friendships.
This programme aims to assist young people develop:
- self awareness
- social skills
- personal competence
- empathy
- social responsibility
and both their willingness and capacity to
- help others, and
- take responsibility for their personal growth and responsible actions
The programme runs over a period of twelve weeks with each session approximately one hour’s duration. The penultimate session takes the form of an assembly where guests, including parents and guardians, are invited to attend a presentation of certificates to participants. During this ceremony the young people share aspects of their experience of the programme with fellow participants and invited guests.
This programme has recently been evaluated and based on the views of young people and tutors involved in this process it required little or no change. This is a testament to the quality of the original work demonstrating that while much has changed, the more important aspects of human connection remain.
In addition to the value for young people this programme also serves as a valuable tool to enhance Youth Workers skills. The programme is a challenging training experience developing and enhancing core youth work and group work skills.
This process of evaluation and publication is being supported by funding from Ei Electronics in Shannon, Co. Clare
