“I’m not inclined to call it work because 19 years on, I still love coming in every day. Each day is entirely different to the day that went before. Each day, there is no way you can predict what you’re going to be doing because, with the best-laid plans, you don’t know where the young people’s needs, wants, behaviour, and humour will take you. The Acorn Project is, at its core, a justice diversion project which means we are supposed to deal with the most at-risk in our community of Edenderry and surrounding areas. For most, this will immediately conjure up images of negativity. In all my years here, I have never met what people might generically describe as a bad young person. I have met many young people who come from awful circumstances, and I have also met some young people who make terrible choices, but I have yet to meet a bad young person. When I was a young lad, I was cantankerous, and the idea that you could be told by so many people, especially in the school system, what to do, I would have rebelled a little bit against that. A lot of it with the young people we try to help is a bit of rebelliousness and their background. The support structure many of us take for granted doesn’t exist for them. When we encounter a young person going through a difficult time, we don’t react to what is in front of us. When they are throwing all kinds of stuff at us, it’s never personal. We know that they never set out to hurt us. They are just trying to offload their baggage in some way. When it’s coming at us, and sometimes it can be overwhelming, what we have to remember is to be patient, take our time, help them see through the haze and the mist and get them to begin to understand for themselves where real issue lies. When they start to trust us, we can help them.
I often wondered if we were wasting our time, were we making any difference?
Then at an awards ceremony last year, our very first participant in the Acorn Project spoke of his experience, and it was jaw-dropping. He said, “I’m sure some people might say that the project changed their lives. It didn’t change my life; it saved my life”. Those are the moments that help you to keep your faith. Change is possible”.

The Acorn Project is run in Edenderry, Co. Offaly.