A day in the life of the adults programme!

It’s 9:30 on Thursday and a group of women are arriving for our women’s group. This meets in a few rooms which have been designated a women’s-only space for the morning. Aisling has brought in a trolley with tea, coffee and biscuits and is meeting clients as they enter. They’ll have an informal cuppa and a chat – which allows the workers to check-in with each woman and see what issues may need to be addressed this morning. The tutors are here too, and will join the chat for a while, and then lead an art project and a class in IT. During the morning they may also have some time for a simple massage, or a brief meditation or mindfulness session.

At 10:00 Howard meets a group of men at the back of the centre to teach a horticulture class (although for the last few weeks they have been working on a new covered smoking area in the back for the adults to use). They work at this for a couple of hours, laying some paving slabs around it and then break for lunch.

After lunch there is an art class followed by an IT class, although some of the learners will work on their driver’s theory instead.

Over the course of the day, a number of clients will drop in to Aisling, or will chat privately to their tutors. We’ll do our best to help them sort out whatever is going on. This is often simply by referring them to the correct agency, but sometimes involves a lot of phone-calls or meetings, as well as follow-on key-working sessions if the issue is serious. Our clients grow to trust us with a lot, and we value and respect that highly.