Limerick Mental Health Week 2019 starts on Friday October 4th running until October 11th. With a wide variety of events planned, we look forward to another impactful week.
What does Limerick Mental Health Week stand for?
Limerick Mental Health Week was started in 2005 due to the recognized needs for more information regarding Mental Health. From 2005 the week has grown year upon year with over 40 partner organisations in 2019 spreading across Limerick City and County. We are proud to be a leader for mental health in Limerick.
Mental Health Week is not just based in Limerick and not just based in Ireland. This is a worldwide initiative. WHO or the World Health Organisation play an impact on our week by giving us a theme and setting World Mental Health Day which falls on October 10th and allows us to better tailor our week. This year the theme is “Suicide Prevention.” We will be working to promote the supports available and spreading awareness of what you can do to help yourself and those in the community.
Limerick Mental Health Week for us stands upon three pillars within the community of Limerick: Awareness of Mental Health, Highlighting of services and Collaboration between all of the organisations.
What is happening?
The events planned this year are aimed to be: informative, fun and interactive. Running through the week, there will be a core event happening each day and lunch-time talks within the city for thirty minutes. We have 5ks/10ks runs, talks, workshops and all range of events taking place throughout the week. Check out our full event listing. The following are some events to look out for:
- Friday Oct 4th 6pm – The official launch of the week at the Hunt Museum
- Saturday Oct 5th 12 to 4pm – The annual family fun-day with all ranges of activities from face painting to jumping on bubble wrap happening on Bedford row within the city.
- Monday Oct 7th 7pm – An evening with Arnold Thomas Fanning, author of Mind on Fire, University of Limerick.
- Thursday Oct 10th 6pm – Shine a light on the River, River Shannon Bridges. A boat procession down the river Shannon. Everyone is encouraged to bring their phone or torch to ‘light up the river’ for mental health awareness.
- Friday Oct 11th 7.30pm – The official closing ceremony of the week taking place within St. Mary’s Cathedral incorporating the various choirs across Limerick coming together to showcase their talents and give the week an emotional close.
Thank you to all involved
We cannot put together this week of events without the help and equal partnership of all the different mental health organisations. The strength of the team is each individual member and the strength of each member is the team. We as organisations need to be aware of what is happening and what we all do across Limerick. Planning the week involves all the different organisations coming together at the same table working towards the common goal. Limerick Mental Health Association is proud to be able to learn about the different organisations, which in turn helps our future work as it does for each other.
We would like to thank all of the organisations involved, these include: Samaritans, GROW, EmployAbility, ABC Start Right, Children’s Grief Centre, Gender Orientation Sexual Health HIV (GOSHH), Jigsaw, IAHIP, Parkrun, Limerick Suicide Watch, Dochas, Treaty Limerick Suicide Prevention, Limerick Institute of Technology(LIT), HSE Mid West Suicide Prevention Office, University of Limerick, SMRC Urban Run, My Mind, LIT Students Union, Mary I Students Union, Mary Immaculate College, North Star family support project, Midwest ARIES, Limerick Youth Service, Limerick City and County Council, SMRC St. Michael’s Rowing Club, Bluebox Art Therapy, An Garda Síochána and ICHAS.
We would also like to thank our Limerick Mental Health Week sponsors: HSE, Limerick City and County Council, Paul Partnership, The University of Limerick and The National Lottery Fund.
