Pieta House Resilience Academy

Our Second Years completed a six-week programme in February and March comprising workshops organised and run by Pieta House. This is a very important element of St. Mary’s Wellbeing Programme

​The initial workshop lasted just over an hour, followed by five weekly sessions.  The final workshop pieced all the elements together and was a chance for reflection, thought and questions.  All the girls received a certificate for completing the programme.  This certificate will now be included under other areas in the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement.

Topics covered included bullying, social media, stress, emotions and self-awareness and the students themselves decided on a number of topics under the guidance of the trained Pieta House presenters. The programme aims to enable Second Year students to better recognise their emotions, provide resources to cope with stressful situations and encourage them to seek help from the appropriate sources should they need it.

Students completed a survey at the start and at the end of the programme.  Pieta House have already piloted the programme in Dublin and Cork and have found that students show a statistically significant increase in resilience, hope for the future, ability to cope with upset feelings and connection to school.
 
The girls thoroughly enjoyed the programme and many thanks to the presenters – Helen Hughes, Joanna Collins and Tricia Errity.