Come in from the sidelines

The boom years saw the population in the commuter zone of east Meath jump from just over 3,000 people to 20,000 and now, as many of those residents come to terms with the impact the recession is having on their mental health, their local GAA club has come into its own.

“The GAA was the heart of the communities that we grew up in; it was the backbone of our home towns and we want to give something back,” said Anita O’Shea, a member of the Naomh Colmcille club at Piltown.

It is the first GAA club to run a programme addressing mental health needs. Indeed, the president of the GAA, Liam O’Neill, said it “epitomised the vision of the GAA to serve the communities it is built upon in any way it can”.

It is called How Are You Feeling Today? and it is made up of what look to be classes in activities such as relaxation, cards and games and a parent and toddler group.

However, there are a number of very important differences, not least that all of the facilitators are professionally qualified.

Allen O’Donoghue, a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, runs the Get the Balance programme on a Tuesday morning.

It is only for men and is, he says, “a mental health peer education programme and we are reaching out into the community here and letting the men know they do not have to play for the club. They can instead use the club as a focal point. If they are feeling low or down this is a place they can go to to access support systems.

“I have been impressed by the way the club has set this up. It has knitted well into the ethos of the club and where it is, and people come here to feel part of the community. A lot of people came to this area during the boom times and do not have family or friends here and do not feel part of the community so this is good for them.”

Leonard Boyle (32) is one of the men taking the Get the Balance right programme and said “it keeps me active and talking to people. I used to be a member of the club and played for it at underage but not in recent years.”

He likes the Thursday evening of cards and games that attracts young and old alike and says “it keeps you in contact with friends and people, and it is just a basic kind of living – it is easy to fall out of it though!” added Leonard, who lives in north Dublin.

Gerry Keoghan (45) used to play soccer for Laytown United and joined the programme because “I wanted to get better awareness and you have to keep an eye on your inner-self. As an Irish man we don’t usually communicate and instead bottle things up. You need an outlet when you are not working.”

Anita adds that “you just have to see the number of dads walking to the shops, doing the school run, to see there is a lot of financial pressure on people. Women will talk to their friends or have a cry, but men bottle it up and there is a need for an outlet for men. We want to promote positive mental health and well-being.

“There is still a stigma attached to mental health and yet so many things affect it. We wanted to reach out and get the men and women affected out of the house and hopefully we have done that.”

The club has worked hand in hand with the HSE and it has secured funding from Genio Trust philanthropies based in Mullingar.

The GAA realises the club is breaking new ground in the way it is interacting with the community.

Colin Regan, the GAA community and health manager, said: “At the launch of this initiative there was a buzz in the room; it was akin to being on the sidelines of a championship. We have a responsibility to the needs of our members beyond sporting [needs] such as mental health, bullying, diet advice and tragedies like Sudden Adult Death Syndrome as well as suicide in their communities.”

He says that what the Piltown-based club is doing could be a template for the GAA’s healthy club projects where the association will help them to put health and well-being at the heart of everything they do.

More information on what Naomh Colmcille is doing is at cilles.com