We’re delighted to announce that the amazing Active Connections are our first official charity partner in Ireland!
Active Connections are a not-for-profit company working with young people with behavioural difficulties. They’re leading the charge of introducing adventure therapy based programmes in Ireland and are helping to transform lives with their 3 pillar philosophy of experience, personal ownership and reflection in pursuit of personal development, interpersonal effectiveness, environmental awareness and learning.
They have recently been announced as one of the five awardees of Rethink Ireland’s Sports and Wellness Fund, and will be further bolstering their activities in helping support foster care placements to avoid placement breakdown and create safe stable places for high need young people.
We first stated to work with Active Connections as part of our Gate One Gives Back programme last year. With their Wexford hub needing some TLC, the Gate One team spent a day together painting, gardening, weeding, and helping pull together some furniture to make sure the space was a welcoming and positive space for future adventurers.
Along with having a chance to get stuck in and help make a contribution first hand, it gave us the chance to really learn about the life-changing work Active Connections does across Ireland and we walked away with a real admiration for this amazing organisation that has only grown.
Beyond our day of hands-on work, we’ve also taken our partnership a step further by lending some consulting brainpower to help shape their long term strategic planning and we tapped into the power of the HAVAS village to bring some additional capabilities to bear as well.
Speaking on the partnership, Gate One Partner Scott Ellis said: “Through our interactions with Active Connections last year, we were fortunate to see first-hand the amazing and impactful support they provide young people experiencing emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. I really admire how Active Connections have been innovative in the way they think about and deliver their unique services with an approach that leans into the strengths of many young people, engaging their energies in a positive way. It allows them to build their confidence, become more aware of their ability and grow their future pathways.
When the idea of approaching Active Connections to become our charity partner was floated, it was met with unanimous support and enthusiasm from across the team. In taking this relationship forward from us having occasional interventions to formalising a partnership means we can play a meaningful role in helping Active Connections to navigate strategy, growth and development. We’re working closely with the Active Connections team to explore how they want the partnership to work for them, whether it be through fundraising, practical labour and/or applying our consulting skills to their challenges. In this way, we can be truly additive and enable their team to focus on continuing to provide the brilliant services they currently do with greater effectiveness and impact.”
We’re really looking forward to collaborating further in the future and seeing the great things Active Connections continue to deliver. The team will be continuing to volunteer their team and support across the year in support.
The team supporting Active Connections for Gate One Gives Back 2024.
