LMETB joined the 15 other Education and Training Boards across the country last week, to celebrate 10 years since their establishment. To mark the milestone, a national ‘ETB Week’ was co-ordinated by Education and Training Boards Ireland running from 27th February – 3rd March.

ETB Week celebrations culminated in the ETB Excellence Awards, which took place in Croke Park on 2nd March. The Excellence Awards recognised individuals, initiatives and groups in ETBs across the country, that have had a significant impact on their community, and are going above and beyond to embody the ETB ethos. ETBs across the country were invited to submit entries to a number of categories, including ‘ETB Hero’, ‘Excellence in Education Award’, and ‘Excellence Award for Equality’, amongst others.

With ETB-supported Youth services from all around the country invited to nominate a project or worker for the Excellence in Youth Services award, Involve Youth Project Meath was delighted to be one of 6 shortlisted nominees in that category, and at the Awards Ceremony they received the Runner up award for their Youth Mental Health Board Game, the “No Shame Game”. Involve Youth project Meath is one of 8 UBU- Your Place Your Space projects funded and supported by LMETB, and LMETB was also present on the day to support Involve Youth Project Meath and congratulate them on their success.

The board game was created by the young people in the Involve Youth Project Meath for other young people to play, so as to break the stigma and shame associated with mental health and well-being. This specialised youth service, which works with young people from the Traveller Community and other young people from low economic areas, is very proud of the young people in their service especially for all their work with the ‘No Shame game.’ This game is part of a larger mental health campaign, with the young people recently just starting a podcasting project on mental health too. Co-ordinator Billie Morgan said ” These young people are mental health ambassadors and are true leaders in their communities and along with their dedicated youth workers want to see the barriers around mental health broken down so that every person who needs help can avail of it”