The Gaggle Podcast shares the voice of West Limerick youths

The Gaggle podcast series is operating from the Foróige West Limerick Creative Learning And Digital Hub.

The Gaggle Podcast is an exciting new initiative that has been created by young people from West Limerick for young people

The Gaggle podcast series is operating from the Foróige West Limerick Creative Learning And Digital Hub.

Young people aimed to establish a podcast that would reflect their generation and to leave a legacy and testament to their time spent at the hub;they now hand it over to the next group enrolling in the hub and to date, the group of 22 have recorded 4 episodes.

The Hub initiative was set up 3 years ago as part of the Tusla Investing in Children award, the award is an honour to services that can demonstrate a commitment to dialogue with young people that leads to change.

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The hub was established as a safe space for young people to explore their identity and creativity as individuals and participate in group projects. Projects are run at the young people’s pace.

The four episodes have been aired with topics including diagnosis and acceptance, creativity and well-being, social media and its influence, and parenthood. Original songs also feature and you can find them on SoundCloud, Spotify and Youtube under the name “The Gaggle”.

“Young people are so stressed keeping up their commitments so the hub is a space to chill out, try new things in a fun and relaxed way,” Said Elaine Williams Youth Officer for Foróige.

Digital youth work has been part of Foróige for over 20 years. Foróige’s digital youth work takes many forms under the umbrella brand of Foróige Go – digital skills for what’s now and next.

According to Elaine Williams, an Ambassador for Foròige Go, “All of Foróiges digital youth work programmes are designed to facilitate young people to grow their empathy, critical thinking, and digital citizenship. These skills are essential not just to young people’s engagement with digital technologies, but also in their day-to-day lives and relationships, supporting their personal and social development, their values, and their ability to connect with others positively”.

GoSonic captures programmes focused on digital audio production, music creation, and podcasting, particularly through the lens of empathy education. The flagship of GoSonic is Foróige’s SoundSurfers programme, which has been developed in partnership with the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at the University of Galway. The programme endeavours to activate empathy and prosocial attitudes in young people through the medium of audio technology.

Over 20 young people from West Limerick Creative Learning and Digital Hub participated in The Gaggle podcast which is aimed at 13-18-year-olds, this programme covers the basics of sound engineering, content creation and storytelling, recording and editing audio. It utilises audio and music technology as a tool for cultivating creative self-discovery while developing empathy skills and awareness, culminating with an empathy-based project.

The Gaggle podcast is an interagency collaboration and partnership between Foróige, Tusla, County Limerick Music Generation, Limerick and Clare Local Creative Partnership (ETB), and Limerick Arts to bring creative initiatives to promote youth mental health in West Limerick.