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Limerick Mental Health Week 2016 Limerick Mental Health Week 2016

Awareness

PHOTOS: Limerick Mental Health Week 2016

Limerick Mental Health Week 2016 – Members of Samaritans, GOSHH, Bedford Row Project, SMRC, HSE, Headway, GROW, Limerick Youth Service (LYS), Limerick Mental Health Association (LMHA), Family Resource Centres (FRC) and MyMind.

Limerick Mental Health Week 2016 runs from October 9 until October 16 with this year’s launch of the event is in King Johns Castle on October 9. Having a dedicated week around mental health illustrates the strides made in Ireland in acknowledging and addressing the importance of mental health and supporting ourselves and each other.

Limerick Mental Health Association and several community groups across the city & county have been working tirelessly over the last several months to put together Limerick Mental Health Week 2016. A week of talks, workshops, exhibitions and events for the public in the month of October on the topic of mental health. The week marks World Mental Health Day October 10 which is run yearly by the World Mental Health Federation and this year’s theme is Dignity in Mental Health: Psychological and Mental Health First Aid for All

Limerick Mental Health Awareness Week 2016

Patrick Fitzgerald, Project Manager of Limerick Mental Health Week, Karl Spain, Board Member Limerick Mental Health Association and Michelle O’Connor, MyMind and Limerick Mental Health Association Board Member.


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The groups, which include Grow, MyMind, Samaritans, HSE, Headway and many more come together voluntarily to focus on creating a week that will shine a much needed spot light on mental health and well-being.

Chairperson of Limerick Mental Association and lecturer at the University of Limerick, Dr Jennifer McMahon said ‘We are delighted that Limerick Mental Health Week continues to grow bigger and bigger each year as this kind of campaign helps to eliminate the stigma and taboo which surrounds mental illness. She notes that ‘We are still a million miles away from putting mental health on a par with physical health. Imagine lying in a ditch after a road traffic accident and being told that the ambulance would be along in a couple of weeks. Yet for severe mental illness, that long and much worse is taken for granted’.

The main aim of this week is to engage people from every walk of life- mental health and well-being is relevant to everyone, yet many people in Limerick City and County feel either uninformed or excluded from society’s discussion around mental health.

Limerick Mental Health Week 2016

The plan for Limerick Mental Health Week 2016

Karl Spain, mental health ambassador for the week says ‘The week will be about socialising, building communities and networks, self-expression through art and music and discussion. This is positive mental health in practice.’

John Downey, director of The Samaritans also points out that the week ‘is about connecting to the community, taking care of yourself and learning to build resilience in how you live day-to-day, it shouldn’t have to be about reaching a crisis. This week is also about bringing the conversation about mental health and well-being into the mainstream.’

Limerick Mental Health Association would like to thank the HSE and all organisations that arrange and run events throughout the week and to the community members who attend and bring their voice and attention to the importance of our mental health as a community and as individuals.

Limerick Mental Health Association created a video to help promote the Limerick Mental Health Week 2016.

For more information on the organisations involved and/or to see our list of events for Limerick Mental Health week 2016, contact or visit: http://limerickmentalhealth.ie/

For more information contact: Claire Flynn, Limerick Mental Health Association
Tel: 061 446786 or email: [email protected]

To check out news on Mental Health from I Love Limerick click here.

Check out Limerick Mental Health Association’s video below!

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.