TY students raise awareness of red flags in unhealthy relationships

A GROUP of transition year students in a Kells secondary school decided to create a project on coercive control to create awareness among their peers about red flags to look out for in an unhealthy relationship.

Students involved in the Young Social Innovators project in St Ciaran's Community College came up with a detailed plan on how they were going to get their message across.

As part of the initiative, Men's Aid carried out a workshop with the group and Women's Aid travelled to the school to give a presentation on the work they do.

A collection of clothes and toiletries is also being organised to donate to Women's Aid North East and the teenagers have completed a poster campaign highlighting the Women's Aid Too Into You Campaign.

Along with this, students have been speaking to their peers in the school to deliver the message that domestic violence and coercive control are issues that face both genders.

In 2023, 8682 men in Ireland used Men’s Aid service and 28,638 women in Ireland contacted Women’s Aid.

Speaking about why the group decided to go with the issue of coercive control for the project, Darragh Rock said:

“Nobody really knew what coercive control was, nor did we really initially so we thought it was important to spread the word and make people aware.

“We had a speaker come in from Men's Aid and he talked to the class and he outlined what Men's Aid does for victims and where to get help for domestic abuse.

“He told us all the unhealthy signs look out for, and gave us just general information about it.”

“We put posters around the school with information about the Too Into You website and just showcased the red flags of unhealthy relationships and where to seek help,” said fellow pupil Odhran McMahon.

“We also got the chance to give a presentation to other schools in the area at a special event for YSI,” he added.

Having as a group undertaken significant research on the subject, Evan Connell outlined some of the red flags to look out for in a relationship.

“Usually they will hate your friends and won't want you to spend time with them and they will try to isolate you.

“They will have a bad temper and you will be afraid to disagree with them.

“They will message you constantly and go mad if you don't reply and they will look through your phone.

“They will threaten to hurt themselves if you break up

“They will put you down constantly and criticise you.”

Darragh said that it was important to also let young men know that there is help out there should they find themselves in a coercive relationship.

“This can happen to anybody whether you are male or female. What I liked about it is that it kind of got us all talking about it and opening up.”