At the launch of the ACT NOW SOS at the Ardhowen Theatre were back row, Mary Breen, Service manager, Emma Weaver, Project manager, Yvonne Fallis, Ciara Collins and Amanada Breslin and front row, Angela Lynch, Grace Caldwell, Carla O’Neill and Martina McLaughlin.
HUNDREDS of schoolchildren across Fermanagh were witness to a new mental health campaign that launched in the Ardhowen theatre yesterday, Tuesday.
The event, a direct response to a high number of suicides in Fermanagh over the last 18 months, was organised by Northern Ireland Association of Mental Health (NIAMH), who have bases locally.
Two showings of a play by Lakeland Players, highlighting a number of mental health issues, took place, followed by mental health related workshops.
Approximately 260 students from St Fanchea’s, St Joseph’s, Erne Integrated college, South West College, Devenish college and Collegiate grammar were in attendance.
Barry Doherty Vice chairman of FDC, Michelle Gildernew who challenged young people to help stamp out the stigma associated with mental health and spoke openly about her own experiences, and Peter McBride Chief Executive of Niamh ( Northern Ireland Association for Mental health) were speakers at the first performance.
In the afternoon, Liam Quigley, Assistant Director of Beacon – a part of NIAMH – day and community services and Ryan McCluskey, Fermanagh GAA senior team captain were in attendance.
Speaking prior to the event, Emma Weaver, a project manager with NIAMH, said: “There was an honest need to try and do something about it. In the 15 years [I’ve worked here] 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.”
She added: “In light of the suicides that happened last year myself and my colleagues got together and thought, what can we do about this? We discussed a lot of options, and there was a common link between the Lakeland Players and some of our staff members.”
The Lakeland Players drama tackled what have been identified as the four prominent issues: social media, self harm, body image and family pressures.
Each student received a goodie bag with pen, wristband, information pack covering the 4 themes along with a soft drink sponsored by ASDA Enniskillen.
The students were also involved in an ‘Apprentice’ style fact or myth session which stimulated a lot of discussion, particularly some of the statistics and local research.
Mary Breen, service manager with NIAMH, said on Tuesday: “It seemed to be very successful, there was a lot of positive feedback on the day – and from talking to young people it seems that there was a lot of talk about it.”
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