Appealing to all youths and professionals in the Glanmire area Cork...

Zephyr99

Hey guys Im looking for your help...over the past year there has been quite a few suicides in the Glanmire area with very little support been put in place. If you goggle anything in relation to suicide groups for youths in this area you are met with zilch!!! Its a joke. I feel we could be doing more and would love to hear your views on what could be done to get something proactive going. If Im feeling very frustrated and helpless for the lack of support then I feel even more sorry for those who have no where to turn. I greatly appreciate any input and would love to hear from the real experts in this area YOU the youth of Glanmire... Cheers guys

l.tobin88

Zephyr99 wrote: »

Hey guys Im looking for your help...over the past year there has been quite a few suicides in the Glanmire area with very little support been put in place. If you goggle anything in relation to suicide groups for youths in this area you are met with zilch!!! Its a joke. I feel we could be doing more and would love to hear your views on what could be done to get something proactive going. If Im feeling very frustrated and helpless for the lack of support then I feel even more sorry for those who have no where to turn. I greatly appreciate any input and would love to hear from the real experts in this area YOU the youth of Glanmire... Cheers guys

Hi I just spotted your message as I too was searching for suicide prevention groups in Glanmire and I found nothing. I am also a Social Care Worker. I was looking for suiicde groups in Glanmire as part of my fourth year dissertation on suiicde prevention. I am looking to interview members of the community who will speak about what exists for young people who may be at risk of suicide. Are you looking to set some sort of group up???

JuliusCaesar

I don't know if it's possible to have suicide prevention bodies everywhere, but here are a few that might be of use:
National Office of Suicide Prevention
Headstrong
Suicide Prevention Ltd
Aware
Turning the Tide

all of which will have useful links

p.pete

Guys, I'm living in the UK so not reading Irish media or familiar with anything to do with Glanmire - possibly it's similar to Bridgend in South Wales?
Either way I'm not sure of the benefits of using a forum which although mainly an Irish audience, has no borders or area restrictions. I wish you the best of luck and hopefully posting here is of some help, but may I suggest there's also region sub forums (not psychology related) including ones for Cork.
Again, good luck.

krankykitty

It sounds from your post that there seems to be no support or groups in the area, but you and possibly some others would like to change that? I reckon if you contact the organisations that Julius Caesar mentioned, they might be able to give you some pointers or suggestions about setting something up in the town..

Perhaps to begin with, something like an awareness campaign in the area might be useful, some informational leaflets or a simple website with links to organisations and suicide helplines and information about where to access services might be useful to get the message out to those who need it. You might find a local business might sponsor you for the costs of these leaflets etc or you might get some literature or support from the aforementioned organisations.

Best of luck with it.

Zephyr99

Hey guys thanks for your replies and advice. I am very passionate about young peoples mental health and get very frustrated at the lack of services there for them especially for those aged between 16-18yrs as there is a contradiction in Irish law, namely the Child Care Act 1991 and the Mental Health Act 1945 one defines a child as anyone up to the age of 16 and the other defines a child being anyone up to 18yrs. While I am aware that the Mental Health Act 2001 is to rectify this problem they quite frankly do not have the facilities to be able to offer this age group a quality service as they have to allocate a number of beds in psychiatric hospitals for them and this has not happened.
Having done a dissertation on this topic as part of my Degree in Social Work I had numerous interviews with consultant Psychiatrist in both the Child and Adult services and both said the other was responsible for this age group!! Hence they are a very vulnerable group. I also carried out a questionnaire on 100 students in this age group in 3 different schools in the Cork area and was deeply saddened at my findings. 17 have contemplated taking their own lives and have self-harmed. Something more has to be done.
I was running a youth club in Glanmire for a year and a half but due to family commitments couldnt keep it up and running. Being a parent myself I want to do more.
Just yesterday I was informed that there is a support group and nearly fell over when I heard the following. A TD who is involved with the group has suggested to the youths that they mark the 1st year anniversary of a friend by having a suicide prevention week in his honour!!! Could you credit that!!! Having spoke with some youths they were shell shocked by this. I mean talk about glorifying suicide. Not good.... Cant wait to tag along to the next meeting. Its a starting point at least. Thanks again for your help much appreciated.

I.Tobin88- If you need any advice on your dissertation Id be happy to help. You'll find it very hard to get any teens to talk to you about their experience of self-harm/suicide thats why I went with the questionnaire as its anonymous. I found the Let's Get Together Foundation based in Midleton to be very helpful and theres a GP named Dr.Jordan who is very involved in the Midleton area or Dr. Grufferty in Glanmire. Also Brian O Toole is the youth worker in Glanmire. Best of luck!

l.tobin88

Thanks Zephyr99. Those contacts will be very useful to me as I am trying to get in touch with schools, G.P's and youth workers at the moment.
My dissertation is based on suicide prevention so I won't be looking for anything too personal in my research. In that sense I am hoping that people will be willing to help me with my research. I am not great with this aspect of the course I would be more the hands on and practical type but we all know the theory, study etc comes first.

I just hope my dissertation will be enough to get me my honours degree. Like you I am extrememly interested in young people and mental health and can't wait until I finish my degree so I can really concentrate on working in this area. It's a disgrace how unwilling the government are to support those interested in suicide prevention, for instance my uncle had to travel to cnaada to train in a prevention course because the government refused to train them. The lack of psychiatric beds for children is unacceptable also there really isn't enough being done for 16-18 year olds and this is also the case for thos in state care as they have no support once they turn 16.....:mad:

journo_girl

Hi Zephyr99,
I'm a student journalist and I'm doing an expose on mental health in youths from 9 to 25. I was wondering if you had any additional information that I could use in regards to stats and any other information that should be shared with the public?

Thanks very much.

JuliusCaesar

JournoGirl, your query should go over to Sys, subforum Media and Research. Or send Zephyr a private message (PM). This thread has been inactive for almost a year.

The five suicide-prevention organisations which I linked above will have all the stats & info.