The Murphy Family

The Murphy Family - Bail Supervision Scheme

Our son was diagnosed with poor mental health, and became involved in regular drug use. Crime and offending soon became a daily part of his life. Gardaí would regularly call us to collect him from the station following yet another arrest and charge.

His anger and confusion meant we regularly faced challenging behaviour from him at our home. The stress of this led to a breakdown in communication between us all, and we just didn’t know how we could get him back on track.

Becoming involved with Extern’s Bail Supervision Scheme transformed things for us, though. We really benefitted from the one-to-one, hands-on approach that allowed us to pick up the phone at any time to talk to our Multi-Systemic Therapist.

We really felt like we were a priority to them; other services had made promises, but never lived up to what they said. Our therapist did everything he said he would do, and never fobbed us off.

Over time, we learned how to become more organised, and communicate better with each other. Our family got back on the same wavelength with one another, and became better at making decisions together. And it had such a big impact on my son as well.

"He had lost confidence in other services, as they never made any difference in his life. Extern restored his faith, though. He always showed up to his sessions and presented us in the most positive light."

I have no doubt my son would be in Oberstown now if it wasn’t for the Bail Supervision Scheme. His court reports helped show the positive steps that we were all making - even when we didn’t realise it at the time.

Extern's Bail Supervision Scheme helped open my son’s eyes to the benefit of letting people who want to help you into your life and putting your trust in them.

His entire focus beforehand was based on crime and drugs, but now he sees another way of life. He wants to complete his Leaving Certificate and go to college. He wants to make a success of himself without the worry of going to court every other week.

Extern was our saving grace. We still have a long road ahead, but my son is now pulling in the same direction as the rest of our family. He has tackled his challenging behaviour … and that makes us hopeful for the future.”

Find out more about the Bail Supervision Scheme (BSS)