PHOTOS More than 200 Young People celebrate World Mental Health Day with Haven Hub

The Haven Hub held a youth event in honour of World Mental Health Day and 200 young people attended the conference in The Clayton Hotel for a mix of talks and workshops on Friday, October 10th, 2025. Picture: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick

More than 200 young people from Educate Together Secondary School marked World Mental Health Day at the Haven Hub Youth Mental Health Conference 2025

Students from Educate Together Secondary School, Castletroy, marked World Mental Health Day 2025 with Haven Hub through a youth-led conference at the Clayton Hotel. 

The Haven Hub Youth Mental Health Conference 2025 was coordinated by young people, for young people. It featured workshops and talks focused on youth mental health, identity and connection. Speakers included representatives from GOSHH, Community Substance Misuse Team (CSMT), Jigsaw, Limerick Sports Partnership and special guest Lee Reeves, alongside the Sober’n’Social group. 

Leona O’Callaghan, Founder of The Haven Hub, said: “World Mental Health Day is important to speak about. How we’re thinking, keeping it positive but also real so that if you are struggling and things don’t feel positive, you know that you have some resources.” 

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She added that the event was about reminding people that support is always available, saying, “If you’re a young person or you know a young person who would like some support, we would love to get behind them or hear from them. Or if you’re not a young person but still struggle with your mental health, we have loads of different services available.

“Your struggle can start at any age. It’s not a reflection on you. We want to expand our services in the future. Lots of plans ahead. If you’re alone, we’re open every Friday and Saturday night for a chat. We’re proud of the young people who organized it and proud of the organizations who stood behind us.” 

Between the guest speakers, interactive sessions and peer-led workshops, the day highlighted the role of community connection and self-expression in maintaining positive mental health.

Leona O’Callaghan told I Love Limerick the group were “so grateful” to the people and organisations who got behind the conference. She said, “On World Mental Health Day, it’s so important that we get to speak about how we’re thinking. Keeping it in some way positive, but also very real, so that if you are struggling, and things don’t feel positive, you’re able to hear more about the resources that are there to help you.

Paul Tracey from Limerick Sports Partnership said, “Sport and mental health – the social aspect can help people make new friends and connections they can build on. It reduces cortisol, which is the stress factor, improves endorphins, builds self-esteem and helps with sleep. We played some games and got people moving to feel the benefits. Sport isn’t just mainstream football or soccer. It’s about movement, connection and feeling good.” 

Paul told I Love Limerick, “Sport has a total range of benefits where it can help with mental health, down to the social aspect of it, where people can mix, find new friends, different connections that they build. It can help with reducing the cortisone, which is the stress factor that people deal with when they’re having stress. It can really do to help endorphins and build people’s self-esteem, and it can help with sleep.” 

The event was supported by Léargas and the European Union, whose funding made the day possible. With branches in Limerick, Ennis and Waterford, The Haven Hub is committed to suicide prevention and mental health support through late-night volunteer services, youth programmes and community initiatives that build wellbeing and resilience.

Pictures: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick