Intervening early with mental health difficulties can help many young people avoid unnecessary suffering. We provide free information and support both online and in our services around the country.
In 2020...
Demand for our community based Jigsaw service remained strong
Jigsaw services provide free evidence informed therapeutic support to help young people cope with the mental health challenges they face. These can include anxiety, stress and low mood.
Demand for our Jigsaw services remained strong throughout 2020. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our services adapted to maintain our support offering to the many young people reaching out.
With a clear plan in place from the board and senior management team, we moved quickly to providing our therapeutic support through video and phone. This was in addition to our usual in person appointments, when these were required and possible.
Of 23,075 appointments offered to young people in 2020
*297 records do not have a recorded mode of delivery, these were excluded.
Our new service opened in Wicklow
In 2019, HSE funding was approved for the development of a new Jigsaw service for Wicklow. Planning and preparation began as soon as funding was approved, with the service opening in December 2020.
The new service is based in the centre of Bray on Parnell Road, from where it offers our full range of supports to the surrounding community.
We launched Jigsaw Live Chat
Through research, consultation, and exploration of best practice, we learned about what young people wanted in an online service. This informed the design and development of Jigsaw Live Chat, which offers text based support to young people on an individual and group basis.
The service launched in June 2020. Overall demand for the service has seen steady growth throughout 2020.
In 2020 on our new live chat service...
It was a strange feeling when we were told that we were suspending in person services for a few weeks due to the pandemic in March 2020. My thoughts went to the different young people I was working with at the time in our Dublin South West service.
However, as time went on people became more accustomed to doing things online and we were seeing a good mix of in person, video and phone appoint-ments. It seemed that as young people were getting more comfortable with the online sphere they were finding it easier to open up.
Overall, parents and young people seemed to be really positive about the range of services we offered through in person, video, phone, and jigsaw.ie
Conor, Jigsaw Clinician
It was a challenge as a clinician, as many of the activities we suggest for young people to mind their mental health were less available. However, I was also inspired by their courage, resilience and bravery through these challenging times.
Conor, Jigsaw Clinician
Jigsaw understands the important role that parents, family members, teachers and other adults can play in supporting young people’s mental health.
In 2020...
Over 18,000 people attended one of our workshops or training sessions
Jigsaw’s programme of workshops, courses and training have been developed to help communities build the confidence and skills they need to support young people’s mental health.
The pandemic had a considerable impact upon our ability to deliver in person courses and training. But we were well positioned to provide ongoing support through the growing range of online courses we’ve been offering since August 2019.
By adapting and using technology, we managed to deliver workshops to over 18,000 people in 2020.
Whilst lower than in 2019 and 2018, we’re confident numbers will recover as society re-opens and we’re able to do in person training once more.
Workshop participants in 2020 (both in person and online)
Over 6000 teachers, parents and young people completed an online workshop Our elearning platform was launched in August 2019. It offers online workshops for teachers, parents and young people. Four workshops were made available at launch, and over 2020 that grew to eight workshops.
These include our mental health elearning workshop for teachers in primary and post-primary schools, endorsed by the Education Supports Centre Ireland (ECSI).
As a teacher I can see the difficulties young people go through and the challenges they face… We’ve had a massive link with Jigsaw in the school here. Lots of young people I know have engaged in the service and find them really helpful.
Stephanie, Teacher and Jigsaw supporter
Registrations and completions of elearning courses
Over 80 schools took part in our One Good School™ initiative
Jigsaw knows from the My World Survey the vital role that schools play in supporting the mental health of young people. In 2019, over 80 schools signed up for our new One Good School™ initiative, aimed at helping them better support their students.
Even with the challenges of the pandemic, we still managed to support schools in delivering much of the One Good School™ programme, including:
Results from our evaluation of One Good School™ are encouraging. And for 2021 we aim to start planning to offer the initiative to two thirds of post-primary schools across Ireland.
Jigsaw knows that there is much that government and policymakers can do to help better meet the mental health needs of Ireland’s young people.
In 2020...
We continued to advocate for young people to government and policymakers With the launch of the new programme for government in June 2020, we were pleased to see included a continuing commitment to Jigsaw and our primary care approach. And a number of areas we have been advocating for over the past few years, including implementation of the Pathfinder report, increased funding for mental health, an acceleration of Sláintecare, and an increased focus on blended universal mental health care.
We launched our new website
Our website and social media channels are often the first point of contact for people looking for support, or looking to support us. Therefore, our goal is that all visitors should get the best experience possible in getting access to the information and supports they need.
In 2020, we completed a redesign of our website. At jigsaw.ie you can now find out about our local services, our online information and supports, ways to fundraise, employment opportunities, and much more.
Jigsaw.ie in 2020
Our social media channels really came into their own
Over 2020, social media has fast become an important and growing part of our outreach to those seeking support and interested in supporting Jigsaw. All channels saw increasing levels of reach and engagement in line with an increased level of information and support being shared through them.
Our We’re here for you campaign was everywhere
The campaign launched in late March 2020 across print and digital channels. It included:
The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness of Jigsaw and our supports. We were keen to give a strong message of support to the young people and parents of Ireland. And we wanted people to know that we are there for them during this tough time, if they need us.
It was the first time Jigsaw ran a multi-format national campaign focussed on raising awareness. And we believe it contributed significantly to the increased levels of trust and awareness of Jigsaw in 2020.
Jigsaw Clinician, Jen, shares advice on RTÉ Drivetime's Study Hub for how to stay motivated to study.
Watch the video...
In our work at Jigsaw it’s imperative that we ensure we’re doing the right things, and then doing those things in the right way...
Dr Joseph Duffy, Chief Executive Officer
I thought Jigsaw was amazing. There should be more out there for teens. They helped me get my life back, and I know that more teens need that kind of support.
A quote from a young person who attended Jigsaw for support with their mental health
©2021 - Jigsaw | All rights reserved National Centre for Youth Mental Health Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in Dublin, Company registration number 421016. Registered office: 16 Westland Square, Pearse Street, Dublin 2. Jigsaw is a registered charity. Our charity (revenue) number is CHY 17439. Our registered charity number is 20064846.
