 A service called, well, APP for short, APP standing for Advocates for Personal Potential. And what they do, well, it's training services for people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD and Mental Health Challenges and the aim is to help them to achieve their personal goals. So the mission of APP is to offer advice and guidance and support to help their members and also their families. So to tell us a little bit more about this service, I'm joined now in the studio by co-founder and managing director, John Joe McBride and service manager Fiona Daugherty. And good afternoon to you both. Good afternoon. How are you doing? Just saying they're off air, it's a long time since we sat on the school bus together and going to doke and nearly nothing at school. Quite a number of years ago. I didn't realise that you and Fiona were that close now. Yes. You're really very careful here. That depends how it goes. We could have a little bit of history lessons. By the way, John is John James McBride, not John Joe. Oh, I beg your pardon. Yes. OK. Anyhow, leaving our school going history aside, Fiona, John Joe, I'll start with you. I gave a very brief overview. Maybe you could do it a little bit better, just to tell us exactly what APP's all about. Well, we started out in 2004. I worked on the mental health service for years for youngs and I decided when I retired to set up a different type of service, a community-based service, a service that went out and reached out into the people out into the community. And at that stage, we focus very much on mental health and we were based in Balai Shanan. And Balai Shanan, the reason for Balai Shanan was because it was in between the services, the letter Kenny-based services and this legal-based service. So we were asked to set up a support service there in Balai Shanan and it took off. It was very, I have to say, it was successful and we were providing support to individuals that lived at home, lived in the community and were attending the mental health clinical services and we were asked to provide a social support type service to them. So we started off in Balai Shanan and in 2006, we were then asked to move to letter Kenny and provide the same type of service for young men and young women on the autism spectrum. So we set up a letter Kenny in 2006 and as they all say and as the rest is history. Now, I'm sure Fiona, you could take them through the type of support and the type of service that we provide, but it's very much outreach, John, and it's very much in the community and it's very person-centered. And we like to think that it's appropriate at this day and age because it's not center-based, it's out there where the people live and that's to us the main aspect of the whole thing. And Fiona, as John James says there, people-centered and in the community. So both of those things are very important. They are because, I guess, what, you know, we're working with young adults. They're transitioning into various areas in their lives or they have goals or the potential to move in, but they need those very definite support. So we are in the background. You know, we take time to listen to the person, to listen to those around them, to find out what they perceive as challenges, to break it down, to meet the services out in the community that will be there to link in and work with us and them for them to achieve what it is that they're aiming for. Yes, it's quite rewarding when you see the end result because, no doubt, when you kind of build up that relationship and staff do that very well in respect to meeting the needs of the individual, they come along that journey with you. It lessens any barriers. It lessens any major issues because they're going that journey along with you and then you tailor whatever required supports they feel they need. So, yeah, it could be anything as simple as getting into a morning routine. It could be from that right through to supporting them into employment or supporting them within the educational third level fields in that sense. It's a broad spectrum. Very much so. And hence, that's why we sort of very much tailor it to the individual. We have quite a number of, we've up to 100 program members as we call them throughout our service region, which is Donegal, Kevin, or sorry, excuse me, Donegal, Leetrim, Sligo, Kevin, Monaghan areas. So across that region, so, and they're very different in respect to what each person are doing. And that suits them. John James, I suppose it's a big part of this. It's about people achieving their goals and helping them to do that. And for everybody, that's going to be different. But for the young adults that you help out, then, you know, they, they have particular challenges. So I have extra tough. Yes, they have particular challenges. And if I go back in history to my own years in St. Connell's Hospital, that's where all those young adults, a lot of them finished up on in St. Connell's Hospital. A lot of young men, a lot of young girls that were on the spectrum, but we didn't know a word at the time. We weren't aware of it. And it was only later that we started dealing with it in a different way. And that has been a successful way, but they are very complex issues and the very complex ways of dealing with them. And I would have to say that the staff that we have are very professional. We have something in the region of 25, 27, full-time professional staff, including occupational therapists, including behavioral therapists, and support staff who are all very focused and very open to that type of service that we've provided. So yes, it's a complex area, but as Fiona had said, it's a rewarding area. And when you see the things that can be achieved by young men and by young women, it's exceptionally rewarding. But I have to say too that we work very closely with families, not just the individual, but we work very closely with families too. And Fiona, I presume that you work closely with other services? Yes, indeed. We take the guys on a journey out in the community like you and I would do, and we offer up the capacity for them to learn the ups and downs out in the community, be it liaising with people, which is very important, giving them the skills to be able to open up the forms of communication that's necessary in respect to engaging with services. So when you talk about services, they have their own, some would have their own links to the medical profession for obvious reasons. Some are with the educational sector. They're with the ETBs, third level colleges. They're with local hobbies, groups, gyms, societies, youth centers, sporting agencies. You know, it's very broad. It's not specific, so. And in a way you have to liaise with them all? With what it is they come to us with, yes, in respect to what they'd like to sample, see, maybe have been yearning to be able to go into an actual service and see what it's like, be it a retail space, be it, you know, managing their own monies, be it going to a bank, be it a post office, be it even taking a bus on their own or to go move into another town or another area, such like at libraries. You know, it's, yeah, it can be very broad. So you have to keep yourself on your toes, in that sense, and be able to network out there as well and research what's available so that staff and the members... And you have a programme called Making Connections, so it's well named. It is, it is, yes. It's a broad outline. There's specifics within it that, you know, we have to follow as a recognised programme in that sense, but within that it allows the person, the scope, to be able to achieve, explore, build their capacity in areas through early years with staff and in times of need as well. We may have to, as John spoke about, the additional therapeutic support staff that we bring on board, be it a behavioural therapist or an occupational therapist, who again can help and manage situations and that in a self-educates ourselves, staff and the communities and persons that we may have to link in with as well too, and even some families as well, that, you know, we may as well ask them for their advice because they know the person well and at the same time they can take that journey with us as well and support the individual to learn and adapt and open up new ideas and things in the future. Sorry, Sean. I was just going to say that in 2004 Fiona came with us. She had been previously working in the educational sector before that, but she came with us and she's with us ever since. I would also like to, maybe it's an opportunity for me to acknowledge, we just didn't do this on our own. You know, there was a lot of other people and particularly with the HSE, because the HSE at the time needed an alternative. Yeah. They were very much centre-based, a lot of centre-based activity, so they saw the need for this concept and they gave us the support that we needed to set it up and develop and take it forward. But being community, totally community-based and covering an area as large as you do, there's a lot of challenges there. There's a lot of challenges there, even in the travel from, I mean, you know, our support staff are based in Little Kenny, our support staff are based in Donegal Town, Slego, Carrick and Shannon and in Caventown and we have to outreach to all of those areas. I mean, Donegal and the South is a huge, huge county to travel from Little Kenny to Ghidor to Falkara. Wherever the need is, that's what we have to do. Now it's demanding, but our staff generally, I have to say, are very focused and very much involved in the type of concept, I suppose. So Fiona, finally, if someone's listening in and thinks, you know what, I'd like to reach out to APP and I think it could help us in our situation. Where should they go? What would be the first step? Yeah, well, I guess it's an adult service, so we'll be working with those young people from 18 upwards. They may have connections with their HSE personnel anyway, who would be aware of us, but if they haven't, we can kindly give an email address info at appts.ie and if anyone has any queries, we can deal with them and point them in the right direction in regards to making the initial steps if deemed suitable to be and connected to our service. Okay, as simple as that. Info at appts.ie. Perfect, okay. Fiona, John James, thank you both very much. You're a tall shot. Thank you. And continued success and the best luck going forward. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you. There's never been a better time to go full-leadal. Let's hear.