The Early Focus Project was established in St James Primary School, Dublin 8 (formerly called Mater Dei Primary School) in 1997. The school is situated in one of the most disadvantaged area of Dublin's south inner city. It is a project that was born out of the needs of the children attending the school. Its focus is on caring and providing opportunities for children to experience a consistent relationship built on trust with a supportive adult via one to one or group sessions. It seeks to engage with children at a therapeutic level with the aim of helping children to feel safe, secure, comforted and regarded.

The children attending the project come from families experiencing various degrees of socio-economic hardship and are highly vulnerable to early school leaving and subsequent social problems. Since the project has started no child has been excluded from the school due to the support the project has offered.

Some of the children that attend the project come to school hungry and we give them the chance to have breakfast in the morning before they go into class. We offer all children in the project the chance to have fruit, fruit smoothie, cereal while we promote healthy eating. We offer the children the chance to develop their social and emotional skills by giving them the chance to talk if they need to. This could be their only time in the day when they get 1:1 with a listening adult. We let them be children in the room and play, dress up and explore their emotions while forgetting their problems, worries & anxieties for a while.