Organisational, Statutory and Corporate Feedback
Uberheroes® has been recognised as an excellent tool by the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) they are delighted that their schools are working with this exciting, innovative and engaging early intervention mental health programme. Their CEO, Roisin Marshall, said, “The mental health and wellbeing of young people is paramount and with the many pressures on them it is great that the Uberheroes® programme is available. To have such a programme, whose USP is to enable young people to discuss and problem-solve issues without being vulnerable or exposed, is invaluable. By looking at how the issues relate to the characters in the stories rather than to them directly makes this a safe way of approaching some very difficult subjects and topics. We support and wish Hope 4 life NI every success with the Uberheroes® programme.”
“Since qualifying in 2008 I worked within a Children’s Services Directorate as a member of the Gateway Service. During this time, I was a case worker and held a managerial role for two years before leaving the service in 2019. I am now a Senior Social Work Practitioner within a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) based in a GP surgery. This role is generic, and I work will all ages.
A key element of my role focuses on early intervention and prevention which is why I gravitated towards the unique and highly recommended Uberheroes Programme. I was a front-line child protection practitioner for over a decade often intervening with families at the point of crisis.
Because of this I know there is a real need to be involved with young people, family and the wider community at an earlier and preventative stage which in turn can lead to better long-term outcomes for children & young people in later life. Uberheroes fits so well within this early intervention and preventative model, and I believe allows for open and honest discussions on important issues in the safe environment of the school, amongst the class and without singling out one particular child.
Having shadowed one session, I saw first-hand how the children immediately connected with the programme and the hard-hitting issues being discussed. We are also really excited about the potential funding for counselling services as this additional support is so needed for those children who disclose at the end of the Uberheroes school sessions and need additional support or for those who are at a crisis point and feel ready to seek this support.
I was so impressed with the programme, in what the team do at Hope 4 Life and as such we approached Dee about being trained as a facilitator and working with schools in our catchment area. Dee has fully supported this, the training has been great, with myself and other colleagues finishing this process soon to complete our training.”
“Recently I had the privilege of attending a session at Holy Cross Primary School for Boys, when I observed the Uberheroes® programme in action with a P7 class.
What struck me was how frank the boys were about talking about mental health issues. I know when I was in P7 all I was ever interested in was playing football. I had no clue about mental health and yet these boys openly talked about self-harming, depression and suicide.
The facilitators from Hope 4 Life were outstanding at how they expertly teased out the issues over the 2 hours. I was also struck by how hard hitting the story in the comic was, but how the boys were able to completely relate this to their own lives.
Simply an amazing experience, one which will stay with me for a long time.”
“Chris has been an advocate for the early intervention and suicide prevention work of Hope 4 Life’s since 2017. Chris has attended some of our sessions, commending the creative and highly innovative programme for the degree in which this engages with young people. The very positive impact this programme has on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in educating, empowering and enabling resilient thinking.”
“As leaders, we’re really impressed with how the girls initially engaged with each other and the content of Teen Wrap Programme; we were specifically impressed at their ability to evaluate, focus on the positives, and discuss the elements they struggled with along with making suggestions on how to improve, this was evidence of how far they’ve developed both personally and as a group. After taking part in Teen WRAP, the girls said they felt more hopeful about their future, more positive about themselves, more aware of the things that made them feel sad, helpless or anxious and better equipped ask for help and how to better take care of their mental and emotional wellbeing.”
“The Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland recognises the benefits of the WRAP programme as a wellbeing tool for our staff and the young people on our programmes. We have recently engaged Hope4Life NI to deliver WRAP to our key staff in the Trust and plan to cascade this training allow our own staff to deliver WRAP to young people on our programmes. We view this training as a key step in empowering our young people to contribute to their own emotional wellbeing. The training from Hope4Life NI has been universally praised by our staff for the relevancy of the content and the exceptional professionalism of the trainers.”