Incredible Years in Northern Ireland

• by Bernie Donaghy, Colin Transitions Programme Coordinator and accredited IY Parent Group Leader

Over the last two and a half years Incredible Years in Colin has been one of three signature programmes selected by the our Health and Social Care Trust (South Eastern Region) under the Northern Ireland Government’s Social Investment Fund.  In that time period we, in partnership with approximately 15  other agencies in the Colin area, have completed 31 Incredible Years  Programmes which included Basic Parent Programmes,  Toddler Programmes,  School Readiness Programmes plus we are at midpoint of 2 Incredible Years Autism and Language Delay Programmes.  In addition to these Incredible Years Programmes we have teachers from 2 of the Colin schools trained and using the strategies in Teacher Classroom Management, 3 Nursery schools  delivering Incredible Years Dina with a further two venues (1 school and 1 community organisation) joining this delivery in September 18 after their recent Dina Training (June 18),  completed 4 Incredible Years Baby Programmes and 2 Incredible Years ADHD Programmes as part of the Changing Lives Initiative.   Our evaluation of the Incredible Years Programmes are illustrated in the Colin Report Card which show impact.  We have been quite busy over this period.

On Thursday 14^th June we held a joint Celebration for the parents of the Colin Transitions Programmes  who completed the Incredible Years Parent Programmes and the Partnership with Parents Programme.   Over 100 parents plus facilitators, community leaders, and funders attended the event.  Parents spoke very positively on their experience and how they have implemented the strategies in their home.  Two of the parents gave an over view of their experience of pre, mid and post Incredible Years Programme to the attendees of the Event.  The parents spoke from the heart and the audience was clearly moved by the real life stories they heard.

To learn more about the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership and Early Intervention Community, please visit their website.