03/11/2025
Fabulous news from Dreambig Foundation SE CLG. A new era is emerging.
The first steps in creating a centre of excellence in Wexford for children and adults who are neurodivergent have been taken by a newly founded charity, the Dreambig Foundation SE, as its first branch, in the form of an inclusive youth club, has been officially launched.
In partnership with Lighthouse Psychology the wraparound program is providing a service from pre-diagnosis to end of life, with a multidisciplinary team and a support service for the whole family, and just recently, the Rainbow Youth Club has opened its doors in the Scout Hall in Marsh Lane, New Ross, welcoming almost 20 members with additional needs on a weekly basis.
The founding member of the Dreambig Foundation, Teresa Carr Buckley, who is a social care worker, said her inspiration behind establishing such an organisation in 2022, was due to the realisation around the lack of services available for her own family, as a mother of two autistic children, who was also diagnosed as an adult with ADHD. It was from then that Teresa set out on her mission to try and provide services for children and adults who are “languishing on long waiting lists”.
“This is a very ambitious project which has not been accomplished in the UK or in Ireland, hence the inspiration behind our name Dreambig,” said Teresa.
“Not only do we want to provide services from pre-diagnosis to end of life,” she continued, “but we also want to change the narrative around being a neurodivergent individual, which I can completely identify with as, having received a late diagnosis of ADHD, I also great difficulty in understanding why I had issues in school with concentrating and I was deemed as a ‘slow learner’ in my post primary education. “The aim of Dreambig is to change how people perceive neurodivergent individuals, by firstly changing the ‘one fits all’ approach, especially within education and employment. The Dreambig Foundation is a pioneering revolutionary, and trailblazing organisation that is going to change that,” Teresa added.
As it stands, there are currently more than 14,000 children waiting on an Assessment of Need and other therapies and services in Ireland. However, the Dreambig Foundation, and Prof. Chrissie Tizzard, Clinical Director of Lighthouse Psychology, are in the process of accessing funding opportunities for services such as psychology, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, play therapy, physiotherapy, dieticians and counselling services, as they have formed a partnership in which they strive to set a gold standard service for parents seeking such services for children with additional needs, but also at an affordable cost.
We’ve undertaken a massive workload, but it’s a workload that’s worthwhile and we’re very proud of our achievements so far having founded the first independent youth service for children with additional needs in Wexford,” Teresa continued.
“There’s already huge demand and we currently have a waiting list for children who are interested in joining us in Marsh Lane, New Ross, and the more volunteers that come on board, the more children who can join sooner."
“We have a designated Youth Development Officer, Becky Healy, and Becky has extensive experience working in the area of disabilities as she worked locally in Cumas New Ross as a support worker. Becky has a Level 8 Degree in Social Care, and understands the needs of those who are part of our group,” Teresa said.
With many plans for the future, Teresa said that it’s their hope to also have a youth club in Enniscorthy in the coming years, with more opening eventually across the south east, based on the pilot programme in New Ross.
Meanwhile, however, over the coming months the intention is to extend the services by creating parent information support services, which will aim to provide parents with information on how to access services from pre-diagnosis, entitlements and application form completions such as for Carers and Domiciliary Care Allowance forms, as well as providing helpful workshops.
“We hope to develop the parents’ supports services in creating a strong network and community of support by also providing activities and coffee mornings for parents to meet and support each other in a safe environment where they can share information on their own journeys and experiences.
“Self-development, self-confidence and self-esteem and self-care are also extremely important factors to be considered where any parent is supporting a child with additional needs, and our aim for the workshops is to focus on these elements where parents can learn how to support themselves in different ways too,” Teresa said.
Speaking about the launch of the youth club and a recent trip the club took to McDonald’s in Wexford, Teresa said: “We’re very grateful for how the community has been welcoming us.
“It's been a fantastic launch, and of the 21 children we have now, there are four nonverbal children in the youth club, with two more coming in soon as well, so it’s been great to be able to support those children, because there's such few services for children who have additional needs, but particularly for those who are nonverbal.
“We had a very successful, and rather exceptional Halloween treat as we took a trip to McDonald’s, and I want to take the time to thank McDonald's for hosting a wonderful party. Nicole, Rory and Sarah are a credit to the team and went above and beyond to make sure all the children’s needs were met. Amazing staff are hard to find and McDonald’s is blessed to have them,” Teresa concluded.
There are two groups currently running under the Rainbow Youth Club, a junior group (6 to 12 years) and a teenage group (12 to 18 years) on Tuesday evenings from 6pm to 7pm, and 7pm to 8pm, respectively. For more information on becoming a volunteer or joinhe groups, contact ryt rycdbf@gmail.com.
