The Changing Lives Initiative: Flourish & Thrive project honoured to receive a delegation from the Oireachtas Committee on the Good Friday Agreement

The Changing Lives Initiative: Flourish & Thrive project, was honoured to receive a delegation from the Oireachtas Committee on the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast last Tuesday 20^th January 2026.   The delegation which included TDs, Senators and MPs* came to learn more about the work of the innovative project. They were met by representatives of the project partners and Gina McIntyre, CEO of Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

The Changing Lives Initiative: Flourish & Thrive project, funded via PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the  SEUPB provide a range of early intervention supports to families of children with queried neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD and Autism.

The early intervention project offer a range of supports including online and in person workshops and evidence-based programmes.  The project is open to all families who think they might benefit from the project’s services. No diagnosis is required and parents can sign up themselves, or any practitioner (such as GP, teacher, family support) can link parents in with the project.

The Flourish & Thrive project, builds on an earlier project by the Changing Lives Initiative which ran from 2017 – 2021.

The Changing Lives Initiative: Flourish & Thrive project, which launched last September will work with 8,700 parents and children in the Belfast, South-Eastern and Northern Trusts as well as border counties Louth, Cavan, Monaghan.

* The delegation were:

Senator Niall Blaney

Senator Alison Comyn

Sean Crowe TD

Cormac Devlin TD

Senator Garret Kelleher

Cathal Mallaghan MP

Paul Maskey MP

David Maxwell TD

Noel McCarthy TD

Erin McGreehan TD

Further information on how families can avail of the programme is available at www.changinglivesinitiative.com

Project Partners:

• Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, who deliver The Changing Lives Initiative: Flourish & Thrive project in the Belfast, South-Eastern and Northern Health & Social Care Trust Areas. For more information please visit: https://www.newcolin.com/
• Archways, who deliver The Changing Lives Initiative: Flourish & Thrive project in Louth, Cavan and Monaghan. For more information please visit: https://archways.ie/
• Dundalk Institute of Technology, Research Partner, who will oversee substantive Outcomes and Process Evaluations. For more information please visit: https://www.dkit.ie/

PEACEPLUS Programme

PEACEPLUS is a cross-border funding Programme supported by the European Union, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Programme is designed to support peace and prosperity across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, building upon the work of the previous PEACE and INTERREG Programmes.

The PEACEPLUS Programme has been divided into six themes – each of which aims to address longstanding social, environmental and economic challenges which continue to impact our community.

The Changing Lives Initiative: Flourish & Thrive project falls within Investment Area 4.1 Collaborative Health and Social Care. This will build upon existing and new cross-border collaborative approaches to health and social care delivery models (within specified treatment areas), to deliver an increased number of episodes of care across the Programme Area. It will support the development of innovative community-based health care interventions, which complement statutory provision (including social enterprise models). It will result in a more resilient health and social care sector in the Programme Area, which contributes to improved population health and wellbeing and reduced health inequalities.

For more information on the SEUPB please visit www.seupb.eu please visit www.seupb.eu

This Project is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).