SpunOut.ie Blog

June, 2009

SpunOut.ie wants you to Step up and Speak out

Blog: A fifth of gay people have attempted suicide.

Article by : SpunOut.ie

Listen to the SpunOut.ie podcast discussion with LGBT young people on issues such as coming out, what it's like to be gay and what pride mean to them.


SpunOut.ie is today calling on young people, and especially young Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender people, to speak out and follow the example of SpunOut.ie long time volunteer and Project Worker, Ian Howley.

Ian, 25, from Athlone, Co. Westmeath, is urging young people to start speaking out about their problems and to seek support. In his teens, Ian had to battle with his own sexuality, he faced a long and lonely path through depression and nearly lost his life to suicide three times. Ian recalls “When I first realised I was gay, I hated myself, I hated who I was and what I had become. I hated the way society looked at me and I felt like I didn’t belong. Unfortunately, I tried to take my life three times but it was only after finding an inner strength and accepting who I was that I could overcome my problems.”



This comes on the back of shocking statistics that a fifth of gay people have tried suicide.* Some 460 people died by suicide in Ireland in 2007, up almost 50 from the previous year. Four times more men take their own life in Ireland than in the UK, with men under 35 accounting for 40% of all suicides.**

Ian is currently running a LGBT Outreach programme in rural Galway and beyond, which promotes LGBT support services such as BeLonGTo, the Gay Switchboard and regional support services such as shOUT! in Galway. Each service provides a safe and open spaces for young LGBT people. SpunOut.ie is also offering young LGBT people information, support and a platform to get their opinions heard. SpunOut.ie aims to empower young people to make personal and social change. Ian adds: “In this difficult time, it is essential for young people to feel like they have support, especially in rural areas where the lack of support services is evident. The support these services provides is essential for young people to grow and to feel like they have a place in society."

Ian is urging young people throughout Ireland, to follow his example and to speak openly and honestly about what they are going through. He adds: “Only by talking about your problems can you overcome them. Over the last four years I have stepped up and spoke to millions of people about what I went through, as I felt it is a great way to make a real difference."

In summary, Ian said: “All it took was a small bit of courage and my life changed forever. I would love to see other young people following my example, to step up, speak out and to help other young people out there. If I can do this, anyone can.”

LGBT support services:

BeLonGTo is an organisation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) young people, aged between 14 and 23.
www.BeLonGto.org

Gay Switchboard provides a confidential telephone support service. 
Phone - 01-8721055
www.gayswitchboard.ie

shOUT! Galway's LGBT youth groups
www.lgbtyouthgalway.com

Find support services in your local area:
www.SpunOut.ie/help

Further info:

*The study was carried out by the Children’s Research Centre in Trinity College and the School of Education at UCD.
**www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/report-suicide-prevention-plan-largely-ignored-414343.html#ixzz0I7N6SoFH&C

SpunOut.ie and Google Ireland team up

Some of the pretty faces involved with re-shaping SpunOut.ie.

Article by : SpunOut.ie

Take a peek into how the day went with the video we produced. You can see those crazy Googlers creating their team mascot out of balloons, dancing the YMCA for Musical Statues and winning a free massage kindly supplied from Massage.ie.

Massage.ie is located in the city centre at the Camden Court Hotel Leisure Centre on Camden Street.

They offer different styles of massage, for example, full body Swedish Massage for relaxation or Sports Massage for those who like a deeper massage.

There is free parking in the secure underground car park or it's a ten minute walk from St Stephen's Green or 2 minutes from the Harcourt Street Luas stop.

Visit the website for more details: www.massage.ie

These are the people who put all their time and effort into making sure SpunOut.ie becomes a website that will rock Ireland for years to come.
•    Chiara Micca
•    Azzurra Damen
•    Basak Turhanoglu
•    Barry Cahill
•    James Ross
•    Philippe Fauconnier
•    Dave Scheine
•    Joe McDermottroe
•    Guillermo Albizuri
•    Jennie Timoney
•    Neil McHale
•    Ross Mahon
•    Tom Buyckx
•    Sinead Gibney



Smart and beautiful- what a knock-out bunch!

Wanna hear more about the day and how you can get involved in similar events? Look here.

Getting Google Served

Blog: SpunOut.ie and Google Ireland join forces!

Article by : SpunOut.ie

SpunOut.ie and Google Ireland joined forces yesterday in a bid to bring SpunOutters a bigger and better SpunOut.ie. The event was part of the Google Serve initiative which sees Google staff giving some love to charities and the community. Googlers took this opportunity to pull the SpunOut.ie website into bits (ouch!), and then put it back together again like a jigsaw! (whew!) They cranked out their vast expertise and skills to help dream up the ideas that will transform SpunOut.ie in to an amazing website in the coming months!

SpunOut.ie reps Ian, Emily and Robert were in on the fun. The day began with the SpunOut.ie showing the Googlers all about the website, what exactly it does and the aim of SpunOut.ie.

Googlers were then split into groups and told to make mascots using balloons, markers, feathers, glue and enough glitter to make David Bowie blush. Every team needs a mascot! Each mascot became a Googler employee and had a role within the organisation. We have to say, these Googlers are a creative bunch!



As the day progressed, the Googlers got down to business and started looking at such areas as the SpunOut.ie homepage, Take Action, Get involved and Find Help sections, Social Networks and lots more.



To keep the Googlers entertained, Dj Howley kept the music pumping out and had some fun with Musical Statues. The Googlers proved how stiff they are with 2 winners of the competition. Those guys are determined.

 

 

The Googlers then presented their ideas to SpunOut.ie. Each group showed their ideas on different aspects of the website. The amazing ideas and concepts flowed like pints on Paddy’s Day! We are not going to spoil the surprises now, but watch this space in the coming months.

The winning group were supplied with a gift voucher from Bodytime http://www.bodytime.ie/

Tucked away in the heart of Ballsbridge, close to Lansdowne Road DART station and other transport options. BodyTime offer a dedicated and specialised massage & physical therapy service. Whether it be aching shoulders; pain; injury or one of our more relaxing and balancing treatments such as reflexology or a hot stone/ aromatherapy massage that tempt you, come in and let or team of fully qualified therapists take care of you. BodyTime also specialise in pre and post natal treatments including pregnancy massage and reflexology for Mums to be .

Thank you to BodyTime for generously offering prizes for the winning group! http://www.bodytime.ie/

SpunOut.ie is sending out virtual hugs to all the Googlers for their time and efforts (awwwww). We would also like to thank Google Ireland for giving SpunOut.ie this opportunity. Together SpunOut.ie and Google will indeed bring SpunOutters a website that will certainly rock Ireland for years to come.

A BIG BIG thank you!

 

 

The SpunOut.ie team - Susan, Willie, Emily, Ruairi, Ian, Anna and Eoghan (not pictured)

Dust down your Speedos, it's June

Blog: Our May news round-up.

Article by : SpunOut.ie

Monthly newsletter: The heart of SpunOut.ie

SpunOut.ie is a youth-led national organisation empowering young people to create personal and social change.

Hello and happy June folks!
 
Dust down the cobwebs from your flip flops and Speedos! The Irish summer is upon us once again and SpunOutters across the nation are  ready to do some serious relaxing. We feel the full force of the dark winter months is behind us and so we believe some fun and sun simply must be on the menu! We hope June brings you new light, re-energising you for the months ahead.

 

Highlights from the month of May:

May was a big month for us, what with winning two huge awards, featuring on national and regional media and launching our new email update ‘reWire’.  

  • We picked up a brilliant Irish Internet Association / Enterprise Ireland Net Visionary Award winning the ‘Social Contribution Category. Thanks to all of you who voted for us! Here’s a photo of Ruairí picking up the goods. 
  • SpunOut.ie featured on the national and regional media as a result of our campaign ‘Ireland facing wasted generation of young people’. We were featured as the main news story on 2fm along with many others such as Newstalk, 4fm, UK Mirror, i102 radio, Ocean FM, Highland radio, WLM and tons more. 
  • SpunOutters made an impressive splash at the Young Social Innovators event. The YSI is Ireland’s largest social awareness and active citizenship education programme. We chatted to, filmed and met many brilliant and inspiring young people. Check out the videos here! 
  • We attended the excellent Carnegie UK Trust/Atlantic Philanthropies event 'Marginalising Dissent'. This much needed and timely event featured contributions from Niall Crowley (Ex Equality Authority), Jack O'Connor (Siptu), Sr. Stan (Young Social Innovators/Immigrant Council/Focus Ireland) and South African activist Kumi Naidoo. 
  • We received great news that SpunOut.ie volunteer Thomas Atcha received Subsidiary Protection from the Department of Justice following a lengthy and difficult Asylum process. SpunOut.ie will be working hard to ensure no other young people fall between the cracks like this again. 
  • We ran a 'Be Your Own Superman' competition featuring Clare Mulvany's super 'One Wild Life' book which inspires people to make a positive difference during their lifetime. You can still win a copy of this fantastic book. Enter now!

 

Inspiring SpunOut.ie frontpage campaigns:

All frontpage campaigns are a collective team effort and we strive to make them as strong as can be, inspiring young people to take action and do something positive! Each campaign highlighted an issue of importance to young people. Click on each link to find an article from each campaign. This month featured:

 

Light your fire! Take control – the revolution starts today.

 

 

 

I am Superman ..... Be a change-maker!

 

 

SpunOut.ie is a positive force... Just some of our feedback from SpunOutters this month:

 ‘’All your suggestions were really helpful and I thank you for the help. I really appreciate that, it was really helpful.’’

‘’Logging on to SpunOut makes my day already, so your email replies are really like icing on the cake!’’

‘’Do you guys know how cool you are? SpunOut is defo a fave in my school.’’

‘’ahh thanks!! Well It was ye guyz [SpunOut]who inspired me!’’

‘thanks for being there for me, this forum has been a great outlet for me’’

 

Discussion forum threads of the month:


Articles of the month:

 

And finally...

We're sad to announce that our amazing Youth Participation person, the brilliant Emily Lindenmuth, will be leaving SpunOut.ie at the end of June. During her time with SpunOut.ie, Emily has spearheaded a range of youth media, outreach and internship programmes as well as the recent 'Our Stories' publication. Please join us in wishing her good luck and thanks as she gets ready for her next adventure.

That's all for this month folks. It's been a great year so far for SpunOut.ie and we're looking forward to a summer of fun, festivals and frolics. We'll be back to you with another update later in the summer. In the meantime 'Tóg go bóg é' and may the force be with you!

If you have any feedback, comments, suggestions or ideas please be sure to get in touch with us by emailing info@SpunOut.ie.

We're particularly keen to get ideas and support on fundraising, website redevelopment and active citizenship programmes. Thanks again and take care.

Your SpunOut.ie HQ crew.
Susan, Eoghan, Anna, Ruairí, Emily, William and Ian.
 
Click here if you would like to subscribe for reWire updates.

Election missing the 'youth factor'

Press release from SpunOut.ie in advance of the elections.

Article by : SpunOut.ie

Below is a press release we've just sent out after conducting a sample text message poll with some SpunOut.ie users. It's already getting great pick up in the regional and national media and SpunOutters are starting to get a platform for their issues to be heard.

This is only the start of things to come as SpunOut.ie will be developing as a major force for youth mobilisation around the issues that affect you. More details will emerge later this year. In the meantime please check out the 'Activism, Politics and Protest' section of our forums and get stuck into the discussion and debate.

_________________

Up to 70% won’t vote: election missing the ‘youth factor’


Young people in Ireland are not as uninterested in the upcoming elections as many people might think. Instead they are finding the political system inaccessible, confusing and uninspiring.

That’s the view of the SpunOut.ie National Youth Organisation, which reaches 100,000s of young people each year.

According to SpunOut.ie there are approximately 500,000 young people in Ireland between the ages of 18 and 25 and according to a SpunOut.ie poll*, up to 70% (350,000) of these may not be voting on Friday.

“Young people often find the political system difficult to understand and access. Many don’t know what impact their vote would have and they generally don’t know how the local and European government systems work. This is further compounded by difficulties in voter registration and a sense of despair when it comes to mainstream politics, parties and their policies” claims a spokesperson.

“Those that do intend voting appear to be moving away from post civil war politics where people voted Fine Gael or Fianna Fail in line with family allegiances.  A young well travelled, highly educated and increasingly unemployed generation* are actively seeking alternatives to represent their worldviews but are increasingly disillusioned by a political system which pays lip service to youth issues” he added.

Because of this disconnection between young people and our political system Ireland is not benefiting from the vast pool of ideas, energy and talent that a younger view can bring to politics. This must be addressed and a radical rethink is needed.

“The current health, economic and environmental situation urgently requires new thinking. It’s time to open up the doors to young people and to harness their potential as active citizens. To do this we need civic education in schools, a more participatory voting system and a move away from meaningless placards and sloganeering. Parties need to articulate their policies on youth issues, address major concerns such as access to education, employment and recreation facilities, and make bold new moves to tackle equality, climate change and corporate corruption” they concluded.

'Activism, Politics and Protest' section of the forums

See folllow up Irish Times article

"Election hopefuls fail to impress the young"