Students at Brollagh who attended the SALUS project
THE SECOND of two recently launched mental health programmes responding to a high level of suicides within the county in the past 18 months has taken place.
Several weeks ago, a project by Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health (NIAMH), had its first outing in the Ardhowen theatre – and now, the ‘Salus’ project, a joint initiative between Action Mental Health and National Learning Network, has launched.
Year eight, nine and 10 pupils at St Mary’s were the first to participate in the workshop.
Information Officer, Pauline O’Hagan explained: “Our Provoking Thought workshop is the main way in which we get across our key mental health messages to young people. During our interactive sessions we focus on positive mental health, how young people can stay well emotionally, rational thinking and coping strategies that can be adopted for everyday life when things don’t go so smoothly.”
Siobhan Wallace, coordinator of the new project added: “The young people really seemed to enjoy the sessions which give them a safe space to explore issues around mental health relevant to them – 89 % of young people at St Mary’s who participated in our workshop said that their knowledge around mental health had improved after the session and 100% said they were more equipped to look after their emotional well-being.”
The project has been funded through the European Union’s, INTERREG IVA Programme and Fermanagh is one of only four counties where the new project will operate.
Siobhan added that the response has been ‘very positive’, and said that the next number of months would be spent visiting other local post-primary schools.
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