Opening Young Minds

Mental health is the emotional resilience, which enables us to enjoy life and to survive its disappointments and pain. Unlike physical health it can be an area that many people find difficult to talk about, particularly young people. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 6 people at any one time suffer from a diagnosed condition such as depression or anxiety. Between 10% and 20% of our teenagers will suffer from depression at some time.

To promote greater awareness of mental health, the ‘Open Your Mind’ public speaking event was held in Newry Arts Centre for year 11 pupils in post primary schools across the Southern Area. This event was designed to encourage young people to open their minds to mental health issues, the factors that can impact on mental health and encourage discussion around them.

Nine schools participated in the event including St Catherine’s College Armagh, St Colman’s College Newry, St Joseph’s Grammar Donaghmore, St Mary’s High Newry, Our Lady’s Grammar Newry, St Patrick’s College Banbridge, St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon, St Patrick’s High Keady and The Royal School Armagh. All the pupils gave excellent presentations on issues relating to mental health.  Over 130 young people found the event enjoyable and thought provoking.

Roisin Tallon, Project Worker for AMH MensSana, “Open Your Mind aims to foster a greater awareness and understanding of mental health issues amongst young people.  We believe there is no better means of achieving this than through the voices of young people themselves’’.

This is the sixth year the “Open Your Mind” public speaking event has been held to mark World Mental Health Day in the Southern Health & Social Care Trust.  The format was slightly changed this year to include two categories individual and team speeches.

The First individual prize went to St Patrick’s High Keady with Gary McAtavey given an excellent thought provoking presentation on ‘Happiness is no laughing matter’.

Second prize in the individual category went to St Catherine’s College student Alanna Toner who also spoke about ‘You are what you think’

St Joseph’s Grammar Donaghmore scooped top prize within the team category, members of the winning team were, Thomas McIlvenna, Daniel Connolly and Eoin Boyle supported by their teacher Linda McMenamin who provided the audience with a great presentation on ‘You are what you think’

Second prize within the team event was awarded to St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon the young people involved included Ahlam Al Abbasi, Ryan Cushley – Spendiff and Aine Palmer who spoke on ‘It is essential to our mental health and our success, that we take control.

Finally the third prize was given to Our Lady’s Grammar Newry, team members consist of Bethan McConville, Eimear McCaul and Olivia Loy who spoke on ‘You are what you think’

The adjudicators for the event included Mrs Deirdre McParland, Senior Mental Health Promotion Officer, Southern Health & Social Care Trust, Colin Loughran Service Manager Action Mental Health and Elsie Gillanders SELB Pupil Personal Development Services.

Deirdre McParland commented: ‘The standard of speeches was amazingly high these young people have clearly developed an informed and compassionate understanding of mental health issues.  They deserve great praise, as do their teachers and school’

The competition is being funded by the Public Health Agency in partnership with the Southern Health & Social Care Trust, AMH MensSana & SELB Pupil Personal Development Services.

“Walk Like An Egyptian”

Back in November New Horizons in Downpatrick held an Egyptian Dance Class the unit in connection with Down Community Arts. Everyone had a great time:

“Brilliant, loved it: we got taught simple exercises and dance that we can do at home. I’d love to see her again, she was so down to earth, wasn’t what I expected”. Elaine Shore.

“I thought it was really good fun and would like to do it again. A good way to do exercises I really enjoyed it”. Paula Hanlon

“Very good, I enjoyed different exercises, entertaining, great to do something different. The teacher was very good at all the moves!! She was also very patient. She was a really lovely lady to teach us to dance. Hope she comes back soon.” Kelly Anne Leavy

Congratulations Dorothy, Nuala, & Stephanie!

Recently Dorothy Greenaway, Nuala Ellision and Stephanie McKeating, three of our Employment Officers completed a Foundation Diploma in Training and Education in Supported Employment (FDSE). The training was delivered by NIUSE in conjunction with the Open Training College (OTC), Dublin and was accredited by the National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway.

Nuala Ellison back row 5th from left, Dorothy Greenaway back row 6th from left, Stephanie McKeating 2nd row 5th from left

Dowpatrick volunteering for Safe and Well

Clients from Downpatrick New Horizons are volunteering for a new project aimed at providing help for the elderly in the Down area. The project is entitled Safe and Well and is funded by the Department for Social Development. 

Building the Community – Pharmacy Partnership

NvTV, the Belfast Community Channel, recently filmed a interview with Sharon Bleakley (Community Development Health Network), Andrew Sutherland (AMH) and Kevin MCDevitt  (Crossin Chemists) to discuss Building the Community – Pharmacy Partnership which funds and supports community groups in partnership with their pharmacist to address local health needs in Northern Ireland.  The film will be broadcast on NvTv and will be available shortly to download,  www.nvtv.co.uk

AMH MensSana hope to Change Minds

Changing Minds is a resource pack, which promotes positive mental health and emotional well-being amongst young people, aged between 11 and 14. Changing Minds consists of a 20 minute DVD and manual which explore a range of issues affecting young people's mental health such as peer pressure, bullying, young carers, exam stress and grief. For more information, please contact Roisin Tallon at AMH MensSana. rtallon@amh.org.uk.

The following papers were written to accompany the series of seminars organised by the Design for Living Partnership:

The Nature of Self-Esteem – Dr Tony Humphreys

This paper aims to support and develop young people's self-esteem and was written by Dr Tony Humphreys, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, international speaker and author. Click here to download

Masculinity and Mental Health - Dr Ken Harland

This paper highlights key issues in the area of masculinity and mental health and was written by Dr Ken Harland, Lecturer in Community Youth Work at the University of Ulster and Co-director of the Centre for Young Men’s Studies within INCORE at the Centre of Excellence for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Ulster. Click here to download.

Understanding Concepts for Working with Children and Young People – Simon Ward

This paper highlights key issues in mental health concepts.  It will help practitioners frame their work in promoting and supporting the mental health of children and young people. The paper is written by Simon Ward, who is a Senior Educational Psychologist with Children, Schools and Families Service in Sefton, England. Click here to download.