THE PARTICIPATION of girls in the Real Deal peer-led education programme will make a huge difference in preventing teenage pregnancies, according to a teacher in one of the schools where it has been offered.
Mary Fagan, home-school liaison teacher at St Tiernan’s school, Dundrum, said the one-time teenage mothers who delivered the programme succeeded in establishing a “trust-filled” relationship with her students and debunked many of the myths about being a teenage mother.
“They all have pics of beautiful newborns in pink or blue on their phones but they have no idea of the reality, and what it’s like a few years down the line,” she said.
Research showing that up to 40 per cent of teenage mothers can suffer from depression “hit them hard”.
Holly Railton, one of the peer educators, had two daughters while in her teens, who are now aged nine and six: “I love my daughters lots but I honestly wished I had waited until I was older before I had them.”
She says she can see herself in today’s schoolgirls and the way she thought she “knew it all”.
“I just wish that someone had told me how hard it is to be a teenage mother bringing up a child all by yourself.”
Anne Fitzpatrick, programme manager of Real Deal, said she
set it up after hearing “yet another teen mum riddled with regret, anger and hurt”.
She said: “Teenagers need protection, guidance and advice. They need to be listened to, not judged. They don’t need nappies, lone parenting and crushed dreams of travel and further education.
“Why should young, intelligent, bright, bubbly teenagers with plans of further education, training and a career have their life’s goals shattered by lack of information and knowledge?”