Call for counselling specific to Travellers

CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE models of providing counselling services should be developed to cater for members of the Travelling community to help reduce higher-than-average levels of suicide, a seminar on the issue heard yesterday.

Thomas McCann, a psychotherapist and counsellor with the Traveller Counselling Service said mainstream counselling services were traditionally based on the idea of a sedentary community where service users came to the service centres but Travellers with their nomadic experience would benefit from a different, culturally appropriate approach.

One model would be where counsellors would visit Travellers in their homes including at halting sites and build up a relationship.

Mr McCann was speaking at a seminar entitled “Suicide in the Traveller Community” organised by the Southern Traveller Health Network. He pointed out that the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study published last month found that Traveller men were seven times more likely to take their own lives than members of the settled community with suicide accounting for 11 per cent of male Traveller deaths.

Among the issues that lead to Travellers contemplating taking their own lives are addiction problems with drink and drugs, depression, gender identity concerns and for many low self-esteem caused by negative self images, he said.

“If there’s a lot of projection in terms of negative stereotypes . . . that begins to impact on people’s lives and their identity.”