‘The Irish keep a brave face while inside we fall apart’

I moved to London from Ireland in 2007, eager for a change in my life but also to support others to make changes in their own.

Having an interest in mental health, I started working with a mental health charity, doing support work and organising activities for people with mental health problems. I noticed that a sizeable chunk of the client group was Irish, but at the time I put this down to there simply being a long-standing Irish population in London.

Just over a year ago, I discovered the charity Mind Yourself. This is when my eyes were really opened to the challenges to health and wellbeing faced by London’s Irish community. Compared to the general population, Irish people in London have lower life expectancy, higher rates of depression, anxiety, diabetes, alcohol consumption, smoking, cardiovascular disease, vascular dementia, suicide among men… the list is long and may seem depressing. But for me, this knowledge creates an advantage, as it means we can start to do something about it.

I was fortunate to gain employment with Mind Yourself, overseeing its services as well as doing one-to-one support and running a mindfulness group. I was drawn to Mind Yourself by its inclusive ethos: our services are open to anyone who identifies as Irish, including first, second and third generation, as well as people of mixed race. Mind Yourself also actively welcomes people who may feel excluded from mainstream Irish society, including Travellers, LGBT people and survivors of the institutions of Ireland’s darker past: industrial schools, Magdalene laundries and mother-and-baby homes.

Although many people who come to Mind Yourself are aged over 50, we are open to all adults in the Irish community. It does appear that the support needs are greater among older generations and people who came to London during the earlier waves of migration, from the 1950s to the 1980s. These people arrived here when anti-Irish discrimination and prejudice was rife: the IRA was carrying out a bombing campaign against civilian targets in England, and Irish people were treated with suspicion and mistrust. The mistrust worked both ways, with Irish people finding it hard to approach health and care services and authorities in the UK, having themselves experienced discrimination.

Working at Mind Yourself over the past year has given me greater insight into Irish culture and society than I gleaned during the 23 years of life in Ireland or the throughout the sociology degree I gained there. We are a people who do not like to have a fuss made about us. We like to keep a brave face even if inside we are falling apart. This makes it hard for us to ask for help when we need it.

At Mind Yourself, we provide a range of group activities to support people’s wellbeing, facilitate creative expression and bring people who may be socially isolated into contact with each other for fun, quirky and healthy activities. We also work with people individually to support them to access health, wellbeing and care services according to their need. This includes accompanying people to health-related appointments.

See mind-yourself.org.ukBrian Hanley is head of services at Mind Yourself. If you work with an organisation supporting Irish people abroad, be it in welfare services, culture, sports or business, and would like to share your story and your role, email emigration@irishtimes.com.