Youth Engagement and Participation Team

I’m Thomas McCarthy, the Youth Engagement and Participation (YEP) Programme Coordinator at EPIC, where I lead a team dedicated to engaging care-experienced young people in our participation programmes. Our goal is to ensure their voices are heard and that they have an active role in shaping the services, policies, and decisions that affect them, both locally and nationally. We also support their involvement in other meaningful, interest-based educational and developmental programmes.

Before joining EPIC in January 2025, I worked as a Community Development Programme Coordinator at Pavee Point, where I led the Drugs, Alcohol, and Addiction Programme. In this role, I focused on drug policy and community development, specifically addressing the challenges faced by Traveller and Roma communities, including health, addiction, discrimination, exclusion, and racism.

Prior to that, I worked as both a mainstream youth worker and, more recently, as a drug and alcohol youth worker in Inchicore, Dublin. I used a combination of centre-based, outreach, and street work to support young people affected by drug use and related challenges. It was during this time that I came into contact with care-experienced young people and saw firsthand the significant obstacles they face, particularly in residential care and as they transition into adulthood and adult services.

I trained at NUI Maynooth, where I obtained a Diploma in Community and Youth Work, a BA in Applied Social Studies, and a Master’s in Social Science (Rights and Social Policy). My community and youth work training provided me with the practical skills needed to work with young people, while my Master’s degree encouraged me to think critically about the structural issues young people face and the policy responses to those challenges. It shifted my focus from addressing individual needs to advocating for young people’s rights as citizens and service users.

Now, at EPIC, I’m excited to apply everything I’ve learned to empower care-experienced young people and support their journey towards self and collective advocacy and meaningful change.