Audrey Carroll

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• Audrey Carroll
• St John of God Carmona Services
• Angelene Conefry
• Community Sergeant
• Inclusion Ireland AGM
• April 21st 2007

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What is

• Streetwise is a new training programme developed
  by the Choices Department in St John of God
  Carmona Services in association with An Garda
  Siochana
• This initiative was developed to facilitate more
  effective communication with the Gardai for
  people with an intellectual disability and others
  with very basic literacy skills in the local
  community.

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The key areas covered in Streetwise

• Awareness of crime
• Effectively accessing emergency services where
  appropriate
• Responsibilities in terms of upholding the law
• Consequences of illegal activities
• Your rights vis-à-vis law enforcement
• Awareness of alcohol and other substance abuse

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Motivation

• People with intellectual disabilities are now
  using their communities in a more meaningful way
  through independent living, supported employment
  and mainstream education. This enhanced
  integrated access can result in increased
  likelihood of both witnessing and committing
  crime as well as the need to access the other
  services offered by the Gardai.
• Services together with families continually
  strive to ensure that service users are as safe
  as possible in their communities.

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Motivation contd

• MORI on behalf of the Disability Rights
  Commission (DRC) in Britain reveals that a third
  of adults (32) with a disability or long-term
  health condition do not feel safe in their
  locality and that they have difficulty using
  police services in their local area - February
  07.

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Motivation contd

• Research undertaken by University of Ulster in
  2004 examining substance misuse, found that
  people with intellectual disabilities are now
  engaging more in using alcohol and other
  substances with both their disabled and
  non-disabled peers
• A survey commissioned in 1999 by the Dept on
  Justice, Equality and Law reform found that 28.8
  of prisoners scored below an IQ level of 70.
  This indicates a significant level of borderline
  intellectual disability among the prison
  population in Mountjoy.

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• Collaboration
• Human rights division of Garda Training College
  Templemore
• Community Relations Dept of Garda Siochana in
  Harcourt Street
• Dunlaoghaire area Local Drugs Task Force- HSE
• Dunlaoghaire Rathdown County Council

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Programme Development

• Contact was initiated with Community Sergeant
  Angelene Conefry from Cabinteely Garda Station.
• Literature review
• Information gathering
• Discussions took place regarding programme
  design.
• An initial training pack was developed
• Service users expressed interest in participating
  in a pilot group
• The pilot group underwent 8 weeks of training
• The training was evaluated and revised to include
  a stronger element of human rights

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Streetwise in Action
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Contents

• The Streetwise training programme
• consists of
• 1. A Course Descriptor for the facilitator.
• 2. An accompanying DVD containing videoclips,
  visual aids, activities and worksheets.

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Garda Station Visit
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Practical Activities
Fingerprinting
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Major use of photos from archives in Garda
Photography Department
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Launch of StreetwiseJune 2006
Br Fintan Whitmore O.H. Provincial Hospitaller
Order of St John of God And An Tainiste Michael
McDowall Minister for Justice Equality and Law
Reform.
Service users, members of the Gardai and St John
of God people at the launch of Streetwise.
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Update

• Streetwise has been taken up in approximately 20
  centres throughout the country
• Service users have expressed satisfaction with
  the training
• Greater relations have been fostered between
  Gardai and Intellectual disability services
• Gardai have expressed more confidence and
  familiarity in dealing with and understanding
  people with intellectual disibilities in the
  communities

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Feedback

• Great Benefit! Useful in conjunction with the
  Charter of rights. Right to be safe!
• Useful to use for FETAC Level 2 Personal safety
• An excellent programme
• Very beneficial our service users have had
  very little awareness of what is a crime, drugs
  etc.

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audrey.carroll_at_sjog.ie
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