A Very Special Buddy Bench For a Special Boy !

Made by Midland’s Prison Campus in Port Laois

By our in-house psychotherapist Judith Ashton BA ITEC MFPhys IMTA ,

Working with our Buddy Bench Aware Programme in primary schools is a fantastic opportunity to introduce young children to the concept of friendship and emotional awareness, communication and listening to each other, and today Nov 28t 2016 was a very special day for me. I visited Scoil Aonghusa in Cashel, Co. Tipperary as they took delivery of one of  the most wonderful Buddy Benches I have seen to date. It was beautifully handcrafted by the men in the metalwork department  of the Midland’s Prison Campus in Port Laois, thank you very much.

Scoil Aonghusa in Cashel, Co. Tipperary

They had  specially made this bench for a  six year boy  who is a pupil there. Sadly he was not in school today as he is currently in hospital in Dublin but we all hope that he will soon get to sit on this fantastic bench.

Scoil Aonghusa is a wonderful ,  modern, colourful and happy place for 90+ children and teens with multiple  challenges ( physical and emotional) where all the pupils have moderate to severe learning difficulties. I was greeted at the door by a fantastic helper called Daisy. Daisy is a Labrador who  does a great job bringing joy to everyone she meets. The teachers here are all very dedicated and the students are a credit to themselves and their parents. I had the pleasure of meeting a student council of six lads who were all very interested in The Buddy Bench and they all thought it was a great idea for the school. They could not wait to try it out and we took lots of photos of them sitting on the bench together.

A Very Special Bench For You A.B. with Love.

It is days like this that make me very happy to be working with our Buddy Bench Aware Programme , and seeing the happiness on the pupil’s faces is something that I will never forget.