Youth Group
HADD has been running Solution Focussed Youth Groups for young people with ADHD and can offer now offer courses to local schools or groups. Solutions Focussed Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a short term approach that focuses on setting goals rather than dwelling on problems. It is positive and forward looking so it gets people into a good frame of mind to start with. It operates from the belief that often some of the desired solutions are already in people’s lives and can serve as a foundation for the ongoing change. It also gets people to identify their personal strengths and resources and encourages them to utilize these to bring about positive change.
The SFBT approach recognizes that in the case of any group that is formed the members are ‘experts in ADD/ADHD’ because they have it and know what it ‘feels’ like. The benefits of being part of a group while using this technique are that members can share stories and information as well as support and encourage each other as they work to achieve their personal goals.
The purpose of this programme is two fold; to bring young people with a common feature (ADD/ADHD) together and see that they are not alone; and to use the Solutions Focussed Brief Therapy approach as a way of helping individuals within the group to come up with practical solutions to problems that may be making their lives more difficult.
Pilot Programme
Our first group ran for 6 weeks from 6 February 2008, meeting one evening a week in the Carmichael Centre. All of the youths on the course involved agreed that it was a very positive experience for them in terms of an improved ability to focus and work set long term goals and also the significant positive outcomes that had occurred for them by the end of the course. Their feedback indicates that this supported their development of an understanding of ADHD and how it affects others and that they learned strategies for dealing with aspects of it. Their average rating for the course was 9/10 and 100% said that they would recommend it to other young people with ADHD. They particularly valued the opportunity of participating in a group where all other members were grappling with the same challenge as themselves, namely ADHD.School Programme
With the support of funding from the AIB Better Ireland Programme and the Katherine Howard Foundation we recently ran a SFBT programme in a north Dublin Comprehensive School with the co-operation of the Principal and staff. There were two groups of boys in 2 different age groups. One group consisted of boys from 1st and 2nd years while the other group consisted of boys in 4th and 5th years, The Resource Teacher in the school identified nine boys in the school who had been diagnosed with ADHD and whom it was felt would benefit from such an intervention.Both Groups met once a week for six weeks on a Monday and Thursday morning from 11 until 1. The groups were facilitated by Dr Deirdre McCarvill and HADD committee member Mary Heffernan. Using the school environment for running such a programme proved to be very effective.
Feedback from the Resource Teacher of the school on the SFBT programme as as follows:- "Being able to offer these students and their families some process that attempts to acknowledge and address / manage the characteristics they experience during the school day was in itself invaluable. I believe that it is a national issue that although there is much documentation of the needs and possibilities for these young people, the reality in most schools is that there is an allocation of resource teaching hours which may or may not be used to address the individual needs of the young person. It is my experience that these hours are most often used only to provide additional subject instruction or to provide a break for the young people themselves or their peers/teachers from the difficulties that can arise for them in mainstream classrooms."
Future Programmes
With funding from the AIB Better Ireland Programme and the Katherine Howard Foundation, HADD is in a position to offer such courses to local schools or groups. We would encourage local schools and people with ADHD to contact us to arrange to take part in a SFBT programme or organise it for a group if possible.
If you are a young person with ADHD or a parent or carer and wish to arrange or take part in a SFBT programme or organise one for your local school please contact HADD on 8748349 or info@hadd.ie.
