FEATURE: Curragh Family Resource Centre - Making a difference to the lives of people in Kildare
During 2021, the Curragh Family Resource Centre (FRC) had over 6,000 contacts with people throughout the county to offer them support during the pandemic.
“We completely changed the way we worked during Covid,” said centre director Angela Morrissey Kenny.
“Sometimes, change is a good thing, but it’s not easy. We tried things that perhaps we would not have tried so there has been some benefits.”
From March to December 2020, the centre made 1,474 phonecalls, sent out 1071 text messages, carried out 225 Zoom sessions, 226 face-to-face sessions, 22 fuel deliveries, made up 551 food hampers, and undertook 289 proffesional consultations. This is just a fraction of the work undertaken.
Mick Furlong and Christine Furlong
The report, prepared by Prof Daniel F Perkins, concluded the services and programmes offered by the centre are “extremely positive and effective, in terms of perceived client satisfaction and reported behavioural improvements”.
It said it deserves “commendation for its leadership in adding to the body of knowledge, and for its genuine interest and determination to find out how best to serve Irish families in general and those at risk in particular”.
The information was based on feedback from the people who use the services.
“We work across the county and we get referrals from around the county,” explained Angela.
On a Leinster Leader visit to the community garden, the horticultural group were busy painting fences, preparing vegetable beds and seedlings. The welcome is warm and hearty and the enthusiasm for their work is clear to see.
One thing that emerged from the report is the whole family approach where different family members were involved in different services. The centre is funded by Tusla and works in collaboration with the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC), who also provide mentors.
Services include therapy, family support, music group, afterschool, Tusla food collection, support group, social group, parent and toddler, senior alert scheme, Flourish youth group, ladies group, community and Defence Forces events.
Curragh FRC works with the DFTC on organising projects and events.
Due to the demand for services, the Defence Forces have provided a separate new building near the old post office so the centre could meet the needs of its clients.
“The need drove the change and the scale and development, we needed the extra space and we are delighted with it,”
said Angela.
“We have added a children’s sensory garden and the horticultural group are doing their part on that and doing fantastic work.”
She stressed that their approach is ‘trauma formed’ which means that any intervention they make is done in a compassionate manner, which does not impact negatively on the family’s situation.
When asked why she thinks there has been an increase in demand, Angela is reluctant to give a definitive answer as there could be multiple factors at play.
Eddie Leacy