Lending a hand at the Console Walk and Talk.

On Saturday the 14^th of September to mark world suicide prevention day/week Console held a Walkand Talk event in the Phionex Park. As we (are working with Console this year to raise some much needed funds we were on site to lend a hand where needed. As suggested in the name this event was to encourage people to talk as talking is a key element to positive mental health. The walk/ run began at 10 am with many budding walkers and runners lining up at the starting line ready to take on this challenge in order to make a difference, get people talking and raise some much needed funds for Console. With the weather truing out to be dry and sunny people turned up without delay to take advantage of the good weather all the while supporting this amazing cause.

This year from August 2013 to July 2014, our chosen charity is Console: the National charity for suicide prevention. We have chosen this charity as it is such a prominent charity in mental health awareness in this country, and one that we believe is worth helping. Console was set up in 2002 by Paul Kelly a Celbridge local after he experienced the death of his young sister through suicide. Through his loss, Paul recognised a need for a dedicated Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention Service here in Ireland.  Since then Console has developed into a National Organisation supporting people in Suicidal Crisis and those Bereaved by Suicide through Professional Counselling, Support and Helpline Services. 

A great day was had by all. It was nice to be so welcomed by the members of Console who were grateful for the help but we were grateful to be aloud help. We met some familiar faces and met some new faces which was great. It was a nice day and despite a cold and early start it was enjoyed by all members of the Label Jars Not People team in attendance. We would like to thank the members of Console for inviting us to come along and being so friendly and welcoming.

Nicola and Siobhán 

Siobhán, Louise and Nicola with the CEO/Founder of Console Paul Kelly and Console staff member Ciaran.

A trip to KFM

On Thursday Siobhán and Louise had a bit of an early start as we made our way into a local radio station KFM after they asked us to come in for an interview to help get the message across about who we are and what we do. There was a small bit of convincing needed to get Louise to come along for the radio interview but despite her reservations regarding talking on the radio her commitment was clear when she said she would come along.

We had a great time meeting the staff and introducing ourselves and our project. We are grateful for their support as any support we get is much needed to allow our project be a success and raise awareness and promote positive mental health. We would like to say a huge thank you to KFM radio for inviting us along and giving us the chance to share what we are all about, we enjoyed our day and we hope you did too.

Here are some photos taken by Mr Damian Brady from damian's photos who has sponsored our team equipment and is supplying all of our t-shirts to custom order.

Think bigger

This week I got a phone call with what I can only describe as the best news ever. This week I found out that Label Jars Not People were approved for our level 2 think big project, Think Bigger. I was over the moon. I began this project on a spur of the moment to be honest. I had thought about it a lot but I didn’t plan anything I just decided to do it. I applied for think Big in the hopes that I would get accepted but after not hearing from them for a while I decided to go ahead and start my project.What started off as my project has now become a group project. From the very beginning I have a huge amount of support of my friends and I now have formed a team with 8 of my close and trusted friends.

This basically means that for 6 months that Label Jars Not People team are going to have the support of Think Big, a personal mentor to support, advise and guide us along the way, a think big start up pack including a laptop for Label Jars Not People and we also receive some much needed funding which will go along to help us getting know and help us organise some more events!

On saturday the 7th of September myself and two other members of the team will be heading into Dublin to attend a training day with Think Big. From my experience of Last years training day I am excited and restless just thinking about this years one. It is a great day with the chance to meet like minded people, learn new things, get new ideas and build new relationships.

Promoting positive metal health and reducing stigma means a lot to me since I have become ill. Before I became ill I knew nothing about mental health which made everything scarier for me. It made things harder to cope in the beginning until I began to learn more about what was going on and what I was experiencing. I don’t want this to happen to other your people. I want people to know about mental health and talk about issues associated with mental health regardless weather they know someone who is suffering or if they are suffering. People need to know about this because without our mental health what do we have?

The more people talk about mental health the less of a taboo subject it will become and more people will seek help when they need it.  By promoting positive mental health we are reducing the stigma of mental health and we are raising awareness.

Siobhán