Social outreach and innovation should be a cornerstone of young people’s education, according to Young Social Innovators at the announcement "Speak Out" social advocacy series today at DCU.
“Every young person has the ability to innovate and also has an instinct for fairness,” said chairperson and co-founder Sr Stanislaus Kennedy.
"If we are to facilitate meaningful active citizenship – and the current rebuilding of Ireland allows us to do that – then these values must be integral to our education and youth development systems."
The first of 11 such events to take place in across Ireland, the Speak Out featured 66 innovation projects presented by student and youth groups from Leinster.
The projects are meant to spread awareness and present solutions to social concerns the students find important to them: from mental and physical health, poverty, discrimination and environmental issues at home and abroad.
"People are born, I believe, with the ability to create to change things. That's what makes us truly human I suppose. They need to be developed. That's what the program is about, developing your innovative skills and to really look at those to improve the lives of other people," said YSI co-founder Rachel Collier.
Altogether as many as 5,000 young people will participate from school and youth groups from across the country. The event will culminate in a national showcase of projects in Dublin in May.
Of the Leinster presentations, an overwhelming number of them addressed the predominantly taboo issue of mental health.
"There is a huge stigma around talking about mental health. I have known children who may have been suffering from depression or mental health issues," said Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly. "They don't want anybody to know; even their parents don't want anybody to know because it's something that is 'unknowable' for a lot of people."
By the time Ms O'Reilly's daughter was 19, she had personally known four people amongst her peers who had died by suicide: A harrowing statistic, but indicative of the prominence of the hidden menace of depression.
"That sends a signal to me. I think it's fantastic so many young people here today are looking at that and actively seeking to support each other and to find ways of dealing with this problem," Ms O'Reilly said.