It's Your Right: Justin Duggan (17) - My Dad, The Army, and YAP

Justin Duggan (17) is originally from Las Vegas in America, but moved to Tralee when he was 4 years old. He says his Dad is his best friend and they do everything together. His love of rap and rock music stems from his Dad who used to be a Drummer. Inspired by his Dad's career in the Army, Justin also plans to join next year to keep up the family tradition. He had had numerous family members in the Army but credits watching his Dad's passion and dedication to the Military for his longing to join himself. Justin's family relationships are very important to him.

Justin loves to help people and his passion in live is making people happy. Being a member of the Youth Advisory Panel of Jigsaw Kerry allows him to do those things. He wants to help people speak their mind and talk about their issues, and feels that talking about the things that you're dealing with is one of the most important things a person can do.

Jigsaw is a network of programmes across Ireland designed to make sure every young person has somewhere to turn to and someone to talk to. They provide confidental support to young people in their local area. http://headstrong.ie/jigsaw/

The Youth Advisory Panel is a group of dedicated young people who advise Jigsaw on the opinions and issues of young people, as well as helping the organisation raise awareness of mental health.

Headstrong is the National Centre for Youth Mental Health - a non-profit organisation supporting young people's mental health in Ireland.

http://headstrong.ie/

Listen to Joseph Duffy, CEO of Headstrong, on 10 years of the Ombudsman for Children's Office and what it means for an organisation like Headstrong.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/2147991-seen-and-heard-joseph-duffy-on-the-ombudsman-for-children-s-office

For more information on Children's Rights and the 'Its Your Right' campaign, visit the Its Your Right website:

http://itsyourright.ie/

Below is a transcript of Justin's story.

00:00 Music.

Justin Duggan; I’m Justin, I’m 17 years old and I’m from Tralee. I was born in Las Vegas and we lived there for a while, we travelled all around America. We moved here when I was 2 years old, and I got into music at a very young age, you know, my Dad was a drummer and brought me up, I was listening to all different types of music but my passion is listening to rap music. 00:30 Justin; I love rap and that’s...my Dad got me into rap music. My Dad is probably my best friend, he brings me out everywhere, he’s done that since I was a child. Like often a time, I’d be up in my room just listening to music and he’d just lay down on my bed while I’d be sitting on a chair and he might fall asleep listening to music to me, that’s the way he is. We literally, we do everything together, he is my best friend like. I’m going to join the army next year, there’s a big military background in my family. 01:00 Justin; I gotta keep it alive I guess. I wanted to join the army because my Dad, I’ve seen the amount of work my Dad put in and the passion for it. When I was younger, I took a massive interest in my Dad’s career in the army. I’d be out in the kitchen and I’d be like practicing my crawls pretending I was in the army. I really put my family before anything, my family are the most important people in my life. They’ll always be the most important people in my life. We talk about everything.

01:30 Justin; My favourite thing about being in the YAP is trying to get people to not bottle up their problems. Everybody goes through certain things in their life where they feel they can’t talk to anybody and I don’t think anybody should go through that and not be able to talk to somebody or tell somebody their problems. And hopefully, what I’m doing here, the message we’re trying to get out, that you can actually come here and talk to somebody and what we’re all about. 02:00 Justin; It makes me feel really happy to help people, you know, it does put a smile on my face when I can help somebody get happy. Having emotions is healthy obviously but being able to deal with them is another thing and that’s also healthy. Looking for help, doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, it means you’re brave enough to actually look for help and look for someone to talk to. 02:30 Justin; And I think it’s probably one of the most important things in the world to be honest, to actually talk about something you’re dealing with. That’s really what I want to do, I want to make people feel comfortable enough to come here and not be afraid to talk about their problems. 03:07

ENDS.

Accompanying Music: 'Welcome Home' by Michael Gallen, Mark Gavin and Robert Hope © West Pole Music and Management Ltd.