Offaly Mental Health Talk Week is here

Offaly Mental Health Talk Week begins today (Monday) and will run until Friday, November 16. Arranged by Offaly Community Forum and Offaly County Council, the event is supported by a number of other agencies. Workshops, talks and workshops have been organised for venues throughout Offaly during the week. A full line up of events is available by logging on to omhtw.ie and clicking on "Events". HSE services supporting Offaly Mental Health Talk Week include the HSE Suicide Prevention Resources Service, the Community Care Team, the Psychology Department and Adult Mental Health Services. Events organised by the HSE include a talk on managing stress tomorrow night (Tuesday) in the Tullamore Court Hotel and a talk on parenting teenagers on Wednesday. Suicide prevention resource officer Josephine Rigney will also deliver a programme on Thursday introducing the Safetalk programme in Tullamore. Speaking about the event today HSE general manager Gerry Raleigh said the HSE is committed to working with communities to support and enhance the collective positive response to the stigma of mental health. "It is hoped that by working together in a collaborative manner we can facilitate the building of strong healthy communities that have the capacity to identify and respond appropriately, effectively and in a timely manner should concerns or difficulties arise and this is our focus into the future," he said. "Encouraging and increasing individual and community capacity to openly and actively talk about their mental health concerns is a significant step in the right direction to combat self harm and suicide. We are here to facilitate, guide and support organisations such as the Offaly Community Forum in their efforts to combat mental health issues in the community."