WELCOME… Michelle Gildernew
AN ALARMING number of suicides in the past 12 months has prompted schools here to take urgent action.
The introduction this coming term of a new initiative to help young people deal with mental health issues is in direct response to the worrying number of suicides across the county.
There were at least16 reported suicides in the past year, including a number of young people of school-going age.
Two local groups are to launch campaigns from September in connection with post-primary schools here, something that Sinn Fein MP Michelle Gildernew has welcomed following a year that she described as ‘terribly hard’ and ‘devastating’ for the county.
She said: “Suicide is devastating. It’s a particularly hard bereavement. We have gone through a terribly hard time in Fermanagh. And I’m hoping both of these initiatives will be well-supported by post-primary schools.”
Northern Ireland Association of Mental Health (NIAMH), form one of the groups, with project manager, Emma Weaver, commented: “There was an honest need to try and do something about it. In the 15 years I’ve come across a lot of different things, but last year, so many in Fermanagh were affected. You could see the ripple effect across the county.”
NIAMH, along with the Lakeland players, are to roll out a new project within the next couple of weeks.
Dubbed ‘ACT NOW SOS’, the project involved a play focussing on areas that affect mental well-being – followed by a workshop.
Emma Weaver, who is from Fermanagh, has worked with Niamh for 15 years. She is project manager with Beacon, a strand of NIAMH.
“In light of the suicides that happened last year myself and my colleagues got together and thought, what can we do about this?”
The Lakeland Players have put together a drama tackling what have been identified as the four prominent issues: social media, self harm, body image and family pressures.
And, the second, is organised by Salus, who are based in Enniskillen, and were set up in the past few weeks.
Pauline O’Hagan, the Project’s Information Officer for County Fermanagh will be delivering ‘Provoking Thought’ workshops to young people between the ages of 12 and 25 in both schools and community youth settings.
Pauline told the Fermanagh Herald: “This week we have been sending out information on our project to all post primary schools in the county and we hope that we will have a good uptake as the message we are leaving the young people with is vitally important.”
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