Further funding has been received through the Departments Early Years Unit, under Equal Start to recruit a further 6 Family Link Workers, bring a total of 17 areas into this project.

The Traveller Parent Support programme aims to address earlier intervention and support for parents from the Traveller community. One of the aims of the programme is to increase the capacity of Traveller parents to receive parenting support programmes in a culturally appropriate and supportive way.

Whether you are a first time parent thinking about toilet training your little one, or if you are worried about your little one not being school ready due to toileting issues, this talk will offer support and advice on best ways to support your child through this stage of their development.

The talk will be delivered by Denise Gillespie: MSc; BSc; HDip Public Health Nursing; RGN; RM; RPHN; RANP & FFNMRCSI. Denise is a qualified nurse; midwife and public health nurse.

• What is anxiety?

• Dealing with an anxious child

• Anxiety Management Tips & Tools

• Childline Digital Mental Health & Wellbeing programmes – support for young people and parents

Tuesday May 6th @  7 - 8pm.

'Coping with Exam Anxiety' Support & Advice for Parents/ Carers

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/fd03f403-1c93-4a49-8f8c-b74fc4234d33@bb926d5e-af5f-4830-b812-e4d184987285

Thursday May 8th @ 7-7.30pm

'Coping with Exam Anxiety' Support & Advice for Young People during exam time

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/fafa46e6-3fa3-42cc-a2b1-60d40d3df78f@bb926d5e-af5f-4830-b812-e4d184987285

Registration is now open, and we would appreciate if you could share the above information and the attached leaflets promoting the webinar to all your networks/ committees/ CYPSC’s/ CFNC’s/ stakeholders/ parents you are working with/ friends/ family etc. By clicking on the above links or the 'register now' on the attached leaflets you will be able to register for these webinars.

Thank you for your support in spreading the word about this event.

Parents will receive a practical workbook "Mind The Gap" which will give parents the tools to support and prepare their child for the big change and new experiences this Autumn.

The short animation can be found on YouTube here and full podcast can be found by scanning the QR code below, or searching Patients Matter Podcast on any podcast platform. 

Please feel free to share this with anyone that might be interested.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

Parents will receive a practical workbook called "Mind The Gap", which will give parents the tools to support and prepare their child for the big change and new experiences this Autumn.

Let’s get Ready has tonnes of useful information on:

• Starting pre-school.

• Starting primary school.

• Information for families with children of disabilities.

• Information resources.

Visit Let's Get Ready for all your information needs.

For all your early childhood information follow @first5ireland on Instagram.

These videos provide stories from mothers who share their personal experiences with breastfeeding, the benefits they’ve found, and why they recommend breastfeeding to other mothers.

They also highlight the support that breastfeeding groups offer, providing expert advice to help mothers overcome challenges, while also offering a great opportunity to socialise and connect with other mothers.

The videos are all available on YouTube using the links below:

• Wendy shares the benefits of attending a breastfeeding support group in Finglas  

• Mums from North Dublin share the benefits of breastfeeding and why they recommend it to others

• Mums from North Dublin share their experience of attending a breastfeeding support group

We believe these videos can be an invaluable resource for your families who are preparing to breastfeed.

We kindly ask for your support in sharing these breastfeeding support videos within your networks. To find out more information about breastfeeding supports, visit www.mychild.ie

The funding for these initiatives is being made available through the What Works prevention and early intervention initiative which receives its funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund (DAF). The DAF is managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht.

Minister Foley said:

“I am delighted to announce this suite of measures which reflect our commitment to early intervention and innovation in children’s services. My Department strives to continuously enhance the quality of prevention and early intervention services so every child and young person is given the best start in life.”

This funding will support:

1. An invitation for applications to the Enhancing Quality Fund 2025, which support organisations to improve the monitoring, evaluation and analysis of their prevention and early intervention initiatives.

2. An online series of planned webinars targeting commissioners, practitioners and anyone interested in applying evidence-based research to support development of prevention and early intervention policy and services.

3. Research funding to evaluate the development, piloting and implementing of a Prevention and Early Intervention model that has been designed to embed a prevention-oriented, child-centred mindset across professional disciplines working with children and families.

The objective of these measures is to support prevention and early intervention initiatives and research that will improve outcomes for children and young people experiencing disadvantage, adversity and trauma.

1. Enhancing Quality Fund 2025

The 2025 Enhancing Quality Fund aims to promote continuous improvement and innovation using a process of problem-solving in prevention and early intervention services for children and young people. Successful applicants will support the What Works initiative to build on the development of implementation structures and learning harnessed from over a decade of investment in prevention and early intervention in order to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families.

The fund is open to practitioners and service providers in not-for-profit organisations working with children, young people and their families and who have a strong emphasis on prevention and early intervention.

Grants of up to €30,000 will be made available to community and voluntary sector organisations working with children and young people through a prevention and early intervention approach. The total value of the fund is €300,000.

These grants will support organisations to support the effective use of data in service provision for children and young people around Ireland.

Further information can be found here.

2. Four Prevention and Early Intervention Webinars

This series of four ninety-minute webinars is designed for commissioners, practitioners and anyone interested in applying evidence-based research and will be delivered by Foundations – the what works centre for children and families (UK).

Foundations developed the What Works Ireland Evidence Hub. The What Works Ireland Evidence Hub provides information about prevention and early intervention programmes that have been evaluated and shown to improve outcomes for children and young people.

These workshops will take place between July 2025 and October 2025.  For further details and to register please click here.

3. Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Research

Enabled by funding from the Tulsa Prevention Partnership and Family Support National Office via What Works, the Prevention and Early Intervention Network has spent the last 14 months developing a thematic learning module: The Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) module is designed to embed a prevention-oriented, child-centred mindset across professional disciplines working with children and families. The module consists of 10 learning units covering core themes such as trauma-informed practice, interagency collaboration, and children’s rights.

What Works is providing €30,000 to evaluate the process of developing, piloting, and implementing the PEI module. It aims to ensure that the module is effective, evidence-based, and responsive to the needs of learners and stakeholders. In doing so it will examine the viability of the module as a cross-disciplinary resource. The focus will be on understanding what worked, what could be improved, and how to support broader adoption and sustainability and ultimately, explore the extent to which a thematic and focused PEI module has the potential to contribute to the overall PEI landscape in Ireland.

Is your child making the transition from pre-school to primary school? Every child starting primary school can get a My Little Library Book Bag to help with their transition to primary school. Head on down to your local library today to collect your My Little Library bag and join your library, all you need is some ID.

If you or anyone you know may be interested please ring Anne on 051306728. 

They are hoping to start this in early October to have it completed before Christmas. Please share this with your contacts or display the poster in your place of work.

The first episode of the second series will be exploring the Rights of Parents in Custody.

The webinar will take place on Thursday 6^th of November at lunchtime (exact time to be confirmed).

You can join via this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xK-itq2IROOJn-wrvk81ow

You can watch our previous webinars here: In Conversation – Barnardos Parental Advocacy & Information Service - YouTube

We look forward to welcoming you on the webinar.

Christmas can be a difficult time for some LGBTQ+ young people, without the normal social supports that they can come to rely on throughout the year. 

Join us online on Wednesday, 26 November from 7pm to 8pm for a supportive and practical information event for parents, guardians and carers of LGBTQ+ young people.  

At this webinar, clinical psychologist Dr Ray O’Neil will provide information on how you can best support your young person through it, helping to manage festive pressures, foster inclusion and sustain wellbeing during the festive period for all in the family. 

What we’ll cover:   

· Making Christmas More Inclusive — Supporting yourselves and your LGBTQ+ young person during Christmas  

· Staying Grounded — Managing stress and expectations as a parent or guardian 

· Navigating family dynamics and conversations over the festive period 

In Detail:

Making Christmas More Inclusive — Supporting Yourselves and your LGBTQ+ Young Person During the Holidays 
How to make the festive season welcoming and affirming for all your family around LGBTQ+ inclusion:   

· Understand the unique pressures LGBTQ+ young people can face at Christmas. 

·  Identify small but meaningful changes and additions to your family customs and traditions to enhance togetherness within your home.  

·  Explore ways to carry inclusive, kind family practices into the new year. 

Staying Grounded — Managing Stress and Expectations as a Parent or Guardian 

The holidays often bring emotional demands, social pressures and high expectations. We’ll discuss strategies for managing stress, so you can be there with presence and compassion for yourself and your family, including:  

·  Recognise signs of holiday stress and emotional overload. 

·  Learn mindfulness and self-compassion tools to restore calm and focus for you. 

·  Explore practical ways to balance your own wellbeing with family needs. 

Navigating Family Dynamics and Conversations Over the Festive Period 
Extended family gatherings can bring joy — but sometimes also tension (we all know that one relative!). We’ll cover managing difficult conversations, navigating wider family relationships, and maintaining your values while protecting yourself and your LGBTQ+ young person’s sense of boundaries, respect and privacy, including:   

· Consider agreed communication strategies for challenging conversations. 

·  Build confidence in addressing insensitive or exclusionary remarks. 

·  Explore boundary-setting techniques that maintain peace and protect wellbeing. 

Connecting Families and Services Across Louth

Edition: November 2025

Thank you for taking the time to read this month’s update from the Louth Parent Hub. This newsletter provides an overview of the latest website activity, recognises the most visited pages and services, and offers a space to highlight upcoming events and new profiles joining the hub.

Website Insights – October 2025

The hub continued to perform well during September, maintaining steady engagement and strong interest across service listings and events.

• Total Users: 4,245 (↑ 58.4%)

• New Users: 3,955 (↑ 62.7%)

• Total Page Views: 10,915 (↑ 42.3%)

Most Visited Services:

Several services stood out for their strong engagement this month:

• Ladywell Centre – 206 views

• Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda – 153 views

• Singleton House – 150 views

• Little Partners Creche Ltd – 84 views

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (North & South Louth) – 188 combined views

• Louth County Hospital, Dundalk – 64 views

It’s encouraging to see a continued interest in health, early years, and family support services.

Service Profile Reminder

As we approach the end of the year, please take a moment to ensure your hub profile is accurate and up to date.Consider:

• Updating service hours or contact details for the holiday period

• Adding details of seasonal programmes or supports

• Removing expired events or information

If you need help editing your listing, please contact Lyndsey at info.abc@lldc.ie.

Upcoming Events

A selection of upcoming family and parenting events from the Louth Parent Hub Events Calendar. Submit your events to be included in next month’s issue.

Family Support Clinics

Family Support Clinics: By appointment only

Mondays 2-4pm

View the event

Paediatric First Aid for Parents

Paediatric first aid course for parents and learn how to handle emergencies with confidence.

View this event

Engineering/Career Expo Helping School Leavers Navigate Their Next Steps

Discover STEM careers with Dr.Niamh Shaw, Mary-Ellen Kelledy, and local grads in this fun, family friendly event

View this event

Sibling workshop for siblings of autistic children

Autism Support Louth&Meath are delighted to facilitate this workshop for siblings of children with autism.

View this event

Welcome to Our New Services

We’re delighted to see more local supports joining the network and contributing to the hub’s expanding directory of family and community services.

• Aura Dundalk

• Mellow Child Sleep Solutions

Stay Connected

Please continue to share your feedback and let us know how the hub can better serve your needs.

Warm regards,

Louth Parent Hub Team

Supporting Children's Needs when Parents Separate is a two part programme, however front line practitioners can take part 1 with no onus on them to take part 2.  In the attachment you will find all the details of this amazing course and there is still time for you to register for FREE on the e course (which is fully self directed) and in the New Year, those who have completed the e course will have the opportunity to join the 3 half days on zoom for FREE compliments of the PSC | Tusla.

I also want to take this opportunity to let you know that the Separation Network have developed a new resource in 2025, a poster, to support you all to helping to make parents more aware of the support they can access in front line services post separation. We hear from families and the Family Law Courts, that more often than not, parents are a long time into separation and conflict before they find or hear about front line supports. We hope by having the posters up in your receptions and local communities more importantly that more parents will reach out for support at a time when they really need it. There is an attached poster but we hope to print professional copies and post them to as many front line services as we can in the coming weeks.

Finally, please note there are other resources available:

The Practitioners Toolkit, launched at the PSC event in 2024 and available from Rainbows Ireland here: Programme of Activity – Rainbows Ireland

The Doshel Bond - a therapeutic story book to support practitioners and parents to talk with children about blended families post separation (written by myself and a colleague) and published by Outside the Box  - available here: Programme of Activity – Rainbows Ireland

And Access 0-6 which was developed following research by Trinity and UCC (with One Family) and is an excellent resource for parents : Programme of Activity – Rainbows Ireland

The Separation Network have two more workshops happening this year, in the next couple of weeks:

Dads Journey - Supporting Fatherhood Post Separation with Dave Saunders founder and CEO of From Lads to Dads https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1395038911939?aff=oddtdtcreator

And 

Not Seen Not Heard - access arrangements for children post separation with One Family (based on research evidence from Trinity and UCC) https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1395099773979?aff=oddtdtcreator

For now, that is it from the Separation Network until 2026. We hope to continue to support the PSC and all front line practitioners working with families post separation in 2026 and beyond.

Regards

Geraldine | Separation Network Coordinator

Geraldine Kelly

CEO | Rainbows Ireland

The event is taking place on Monday 8^th of June in the Realtog Centre, Kilnaleck- from 10am – 12pm.

Guest speaker will present on Infant Mental Health(IMH) Awareness week, followed by baby massage session by Moo Music.  

Can you please share the poster with your network, parents, guardians that may engage with your service.

Booking is essential,  book via my email address @ parentingcavan@ccld.ie.

Please get in contact if this event is relevant to your service and you like to attend with an information stand, set up from 9.30am.

On the night ISPCC's Niamh Clarke, National Children's Lead with responsibility for our Smart Moves School Transition programme and Victoria Howson, Community Engagement Manager for our Shield Anti-Bullying Programme and trainee Educational Psychologist with the HSE will focus on:

• Preparing your child for the school transition from a resilience focused lens

• Challenges your child may face, and how they can be supported to overcome them

• Tips on how you can support your child before and after this transition period

• Tips and support for children with SEN

Tuesday May 26^th @ 7 – 8pm.

Supporting your child’s transition to secondary school

Supporting Your Child’s Transition to Secondary School | Join meeting in Teams | Microsoft Teams

Registration is now open, and we would appreciate if you could share the above information and the attached leaflet promoting the webinar to all your networks/ committees/ CYPSC’s/ CFNC’s/ stakeholders/ parents you are working with/ friends/ family etc. By clicking on the above links or the 'register now' on the attached leaflets you will be able to register for these webinars.

⚠️ Please note: Registration is required — don’t miss out!

Click to register:https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/from-wobbles-to-wins-helping-kids-with-coordination-control-tickets-1985441642399?aff=oddtdtcreator

What's this workshop about?

From tying shoelaces to team sports—learn how to support kids with co-ordination challenges through practical tips and strategies.

This workshop will help you:
✔ Understand Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD/dyspraxia)
✔ Recognise how it affects children at home and school
✔ Learn simple, effective strategies to support your child

Book your place here and learn more about each workshop: 

Not Seen & Not Heard with One Family: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1988061129355?aff=oddtdtcreator

Understanding Neurodiversity & Parental Separation with AsIAm https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1988106939374?aff=oddtdtcreator

Vicarious Trauma and Compassionate Fatigue with Patricia Allen Garrett https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1988062862539?aff=oddtdtcreator

See our full suite of 2026 Training as planned to date here: Programme of Activity – Rainbows Ireland

Email geraldine@rainbowsireland.ie if you wish to discuss discounts for any training you are interested in, if your training budgets do not permit you to book.

📅 Thursday, July 2
🕖 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM 
💻 Online Event
🎟️ Free to attend

Does your child struggle to stay focused, follow instructions, or remember important information? Join our FREE parent workshop and discover practical, everyday strategies to support your child's attention and memory.

In this parent-friendly session, we'll explore:

✅ What attention and memory are, and how they work in the brain
✅ Why some children find it harder to focus or remember things
✅ The connection between attention, memory, and neurodiversity, including ADHD and autism
✅ Simple strategies parents and teachers can use at home and in school
✅ Practical tools such as routines, visual supports, and mindfulness activities

This interactive and supportive workshop is designed to give you clear, practical ideas that you can start using straight away to help your child thrive.

Help your child tune in, stay on track, and build confidence in their learning journey.

Register today to secure your spot: You must register in order to attend - Don't miss out!

Click on the link here👉 https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/attention-hq-helping-kids-tune-in-and-stay-on-track-tickets-1985499888615?aff=oddtdtcreator

Tuesday 4th August – 10:00am
🤔 Thinking Outside the Box: How Different Brains Learn & Grow
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/thinking-outside-the-box-how-different-brains-learn-grow-tickets-1992995832184?aff=oddtdtcreator

Thursday 6th August – 7:00pm
🛑 Stop, Think & Act: Helping Children Manage Impulsivity
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/stop-think-act-helping-children-manage-impulsivity-tickets-1992909903168?aff=oddtdtcreator

Wednesday 12th August – 7:00pm
😶‍🌫️ Sensory SOS: Practical Strategies for Kids Who Feel Everything
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/sensory-sos-practical-strategies-for-kids-who-feel-everything-tickets-1992934862823?aff=oddtdtcreator

Thursday 13th August – 7:00pm
📢 Attention HQ: Helping Kids Tune In and Stay on Track
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/attention-hq-helping-kids-tune-in-and-stay-on-track-tickets-1992935164726?aff=oddtdtcreator

Thursday 20th August – 7:00pm
🪷 Calm & Connected: Helping Kids Understand & Manage Emotions
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/calm-connected-helping-kids-understand-manage-emotions-tickets-1992935891901?aff=oddtdtcreator

Tuesday 25th August – 10:00am
🛝 Social Smarts: Helping Your Child Build Meaningful Connections
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/social-smarts-helping-your-child-build-meaningful-connections-tickets-1992936717370?aff=oddtdtcreator

💟 PARENT PROGRAMMES – STARTING SEPTEMBER 2026 💟

Parents & Caregivers in Louth, Cavan, Monaghan and surrounding counties!

We are delighted to offer places on our upcoming round of FREE Parent Programmes.

These supportive programmes are designed for parents and caregivers of children up to the age of 12 who may be neurodivergent and experience the world in their own unique way. This includes children with or without a formal diagnosis of ADHD, Autism, or other neurodevelopmental differences.

What you can expect:

💟 Connect with other parents and caregivers
🧰 Gain practical strategies and tools
🌱 Build confidence in supporting your child
🤝 Enjoy a safe, understanding and supportive space

Mornings and Evenings available - Places are limited, so early booking is encouraged!

Get in touch today to learn more or secure your place.

📲 To register your interest, please complete our Expression of Interest Form by completing the Expression of Interest form here

Thanks so much for supporting this initiative to date. If you still have contact details for the parents of the children starting primary school in September, could you please reach out and give them another reminder of this wonderful initiative.

Please find attached invitations in English and Irish, QR codes to send to parents on Whatsapp and a poster for your service.

The Department would be delighted if you could share My Little Library with Families.

Kind regards,

Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Division