This article has been researched and presented by Katie Doolan.
Biography; Katie Doolan is a 17 year old pupil In St. Brigids, Presentation Secondary School in Killarney and she wrote this in the hopes of educating young people on the importance of mental health.
Introduction: Reaching out and asking for help when you’re not feeling good is often a scary and daunting thought. These are some great websites and resources to go to if you feel you need it. They are judgement free and here to help.
Jigsaw Kerry: Jigsaw is a free, non- judgemental and confidential mental health support and counselling organisation for young people aged 12-25. They are based in Tralee in Kerry and have centres all around the country. They do face to face counselling, and you can also talk online with them if you would prefer. Jigsaw aims to have an Ireland where every young person’s mental health is valued and supported. To book an appointment or to find more information go to https://jigsaw.ie
Spunout.ie: Spunout.ie is a mental health information website made by young people for young people. It is a website that offers information to young people about mental health and how to keep good wellbeing. It is an easy access website if you are wanting to learn more about how to have a good mental health. For more information go to https://spunout.ie
Bodywhys: Bodywhys is an eating disorder association that aims to help people struggling with an eating disorder or body image troubles. It is a website that you can go to for information if you or someone you care about is struggling with an eating disorder. They give great information on how to help yourself or others and they also have a hotline you can call for someone to talk to. For more information go to https://www.bodywhys.ie
Childline: Childline is a service for young people aged 18 and under. They are an organisation committed to being there for every young person and giving advice about a wide range of topics that may be upsetting you. They have a number you can call or text at any time and they have very useful articles that are easy to understand and access. It is a very child friendly website. For more information go to https://www.childline.ie
HSE 50808 Hotline: The 50808 Hotline is a number you can text at any time if you need someone to talk to. It is completely anonymous and free of charge. You only have to give as much information as you are comfortable with. You will have a trained volunteer texting you at whatever time of day suits you and there are no commitments. It is very useful if a face to face meeting or phone call is too daunting for you. For more information go to https://text50808.ie
Information on Mental Illnesses’ / Disorders
Depression: One of the most common mental illnesses’(HSE). Its primary symptoms include:
A persistent feeling of sadness and, as its described, emptiness.
A loss of interest in things that would usually bring you joy such as hobbies and interests feeling like a chore.
Angry outbursts and irritability with no clear reason.
A lack of energy and motivation that makes small tasks very tiring both mentally and physically. You may find everyday things such as brushing your teeth, overwhelming.
Anxiety: Another very common mental illness. Anxiety as an emotion is our body’s very natural response to stress. But when these feelings seem constant and overwhelming, it may mean you have an anxiety disorder. An anxiety disorders main symptoms include:
A constant feeling of worry and stress over things that are seen by many as low risk such as crossing the street. The danger that others think is small would seem much bigger to some with anxiety.
Trouble concentrating due to heightened stress levels and worrying. Can cause things like school or work to be harder.
Restlessness and difficulty sleeping.
With anxiety one may experience an anxiety attack or panic attack. This is a sudden feeling of intense anxiety. If you or someone you are with experiences an attack, try this method of calming them down. Ask them to name,5 things they can see, 4 things they can touch, 3 things they can hear, 2 things they can smell and 1 thing they can taste. This exercise helps to ground them with reality and regain control. For more info go to https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety
Eating disorders: An eating disorder is an illness that effects a person’s body image and self-confidence. There are many different types of eating disorders and sadly because of social media and the unrealistic beauty standard it is constantly reinforcing, eating disorders are more common than ever. The three most common disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder
Anorexia nervosa; is an eating disorder in which a person will not eat enough, or not eat at all, in order to loose weight. This is dangerous as we need food to survive and live a healthy life. Anorexia, like all eating disorders, comes from or causes an obsession with a person’s weight, image, and often a certain level of low self-esteem. People with any eating disorder may also experience a self-hatred and a very warped body image. They may think they are bigger and/or ‘uglier’ than they are. People with anorexia can drop to dangerously low body weights so it is one of the easiest to identify. A person with anorexia or any eating disorder will be constantly thinking about food, their weight and how they look.
Bulimia nervosa; is an eating disorder where a person will eat an excess amount of food, and then engage in a ‘purging’. This purging is usually self-induced vomiting, but can also be misuse of laxatives, excessive exercising, fasting or any other way of relieving their body from the food they just ate. Commonly a person will purge after a binge of food where they eat a lot, but it can also take place after a normal amount of food has been eaten that the person has convinced themselves that it is too much. Much like anorexia a person with bulimia will experience a lot of self-hatred especially after a binge before the purging has happened. People with bulimia will be more likely to stay in a normal body weight so it is much harder to identify than anorexia or binge eating disorder. People with bulimia would suffer with a loss of control during the binge eating and then use the purging as a way of ‘making up for it’
Binge Eating Disorder; is an eating disorder where a person will eat an excess amount of food and feel as though they have no control over their eating as the binge is happening. It is very similar to bulimia but it lacks the purging aspect. This leads to people with this disorder to gain considerable weight. People with this disorder will find themselves trapped in a cycle of binging, self loathing, attempted dieting and binging again
OCD: OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or behaviours (compulsions) that they feel the urge to repeat over and over.’
Some examples of possible obsessions could be; Fear of germs or uncleanliness, Unwanted thoughts about ‘taboo’ subjects such as religion, sex or harm, Wanting things to be in order or symmetrical. These obsessions cause compulsions such as; Excessive cleaning of yourself or the space around you, Arranging things in a specific way or Constantly checking on things such as eg. The oven to see if its on. Having rituals or habits doesn’t mean you have OCD, as the difference is people with OCD cant control the thoughts or behaviour and do them to get momentary relief from the obsession. For more info on OCD please visit https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd#:~:text=Obsessive%2DCompulsive%20Disorder%20(OCD),to%20repeat%20over%20and%20over.
ADHD: ADHD Ireland states the ADHD stands for for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It is a neurological disorder that impacts the parts of the brain that help us plan, focus on, and execute tasks. ADHD impacts approximately 5% of the population in Ireland. ADHD is a developmental impairment of the brain’s executive functions. People with ADHD have trouble with impulse-control, focusing, and organisation. Its main symptoms are
Attention Issues such as difficulty maintaining attention.
Hyperactivity- Finding it hard to sit still, constant fiddling or messing
Impulsiveness- Finding it hard to wait your turn, interrupting others
ASD ( Autism ) : ASD stands for Autism Spectrum Disorder. The NIMH states ‘Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior.’
Autism is a very wide spectrum and can show itself in many different ways. The main symptoms that can show in varying severity levels are;
Difficulty with communication and interaction with others
Restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests.
Difficulty functioning in school work and day to day life.
Lack of understanding and interest in socialising.
The chat service is available between 4pm and 8pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). The service is here to support 16 to 25 year olds, parents/guardians, and people who work with young people. If you want to chat to a Youth Information Worker during that time, start a conversation now. If you would like to leave a message outside of the hours of our chat service, we can come back to you by email the next time we’re online.
We can help you with any questions you have, from education, employment, your rights and entitlements, social protection benefits, college grants, accommodation, and more. We can give you information, answer your questions, and provide you with a second opinion. (Please note that you can edit this as appropriate, but providing prompts increases the engagement of young people with the service.)
The most important thing is your safety
If you tell us that you are under 18 and are being harmed, are at risk of being harmed, or have been harmed in the past while under 18, we must report this information to Tusla – the Child and Family Agency – and possibly the Gardaí. To make these reports, we need your full name, your age and the county you live in. If you choose not to share this information with us, we will be unable to make a report.
Who will you be talking to?
Our chat service is staffed by Youth Information Officers from centres across Ireland. Youth Information Officers are trained in providing information that is impartial, accurate, relevant to your question, in a non-judgemental and easy to understand way. The Youth Information Officers staffing the system are from YMCA Ireland, Crosscare and Youth Work Ireland.
Are you in a crisis?
This is not a service for people experiencing a mental health crisis, but if you need mental health support right now, text YIC to 50808 to start an anonymous conversation with a trained volunteer – 24/7. Standard text message rates may apply.
Press Release from Youth Information Partnership on 14th April 2020
Four leading Irish youth organisations have today formally launched a new unique online youth chat system called the Digital Youth Information Chat Service. The Youth Information Online chat service is the first of its kind in Ireland. Crosscare, SpunOut, YMCA and Youth Work Ireland who had long-planned this service have expedited the launch to support young people during Covid 19 lockdown. You can access the chat HERE
The Youth Information online chat service builds on a long standing partnership of professional Youth Information providers in Ireland and relies on the development of commitment to joined up working on communications, safeguarding, data protection, and youth information practice. The service is staffed by professional Youth Information Workers.
The service will be available to young people from 4pm to 8pm and is aimed at young people aged between 16 and 25, it is impartial, non-judgemental, reliable, and accurate. The initiative has the support of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, it is impartial, non-judgemental, reliable, and accurate.
In welcoming the launch of the Digital Youth Information Chat Service, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. Katherine Zappone said, that
“the launch of the chat line service today is particularly welcome at a time when young people are facing enormous challenges in all areas of their lives, particularly in matters of mental health, but are also harnessing their talents and capabilities to play a crucial role in the societal response to the current Covid-19 crisis. I would like to commend the Youth Information Partnership for working together nationally to provide information for young people on a dedicated online facility. Any initiative which seeks to support young people in maintaining their health and wellbeing is particularly welcome now and into the future.”
Youth Information Professionals fro across the country have said the following of this new service:
“This new service is a natural extension of what youth information workers do day to day but enhances this work by recognising both the importance of the online lives that young people lead and of course the current period which presents huge challenges for young people. It builds on the existing partnership between Crosscare, YMCA, Youth Work Ireland who have provided physical Youth Information Centres and SpunOut which has been a leader in the online space. This is a major first for Ireland in these difficult times and we expect it to make a significant contribution to young peoples lives”
“This partnership creates great synergies realising that young people move between the online and real worlds and need to have trusted adults to interact with and help them navigate life’s challenges on that journey. A chat service where young people can move seamlessly to personalised trusted adult professional support is a hugely important offer in young people’s lives. This initiative also will provide extended hours of service through coordinating staff-time on an all-Ireland rota and information in a format that is appropriate to the information seeking habits of young people.”
“In an era of false news and confusion online Youth Information Service partners bring expertise to this work by providing quality youth information to young people in a way the helps them to use the information and take positive action in their lives. It will provide youth information to young people who can’t easily access physical Youth Information Centres. We know the need for the service based on our day to day experience. The service is critical because it responds to young people’s information needs in real time and helps them navigate different arguments and information sources by being able to interact with a trained professional through the chat service”
“In this present time this initiative by these four organisations responds to specific needs by working together nationally to build a vetted, verified and youth friendly online facility. It will also achieve value for money by pooling and scaling resources across Youth Information staff and centres and contribute to quality practice by sharing practice and knowledge through an all-Ireland youth information initiative. It will respond to young people’s needs and aspirations by jointly creating data analytics that describe and predict trends young people’s query topics. We also believe it is particularly helpful with large numbers of young people out of school at the moment.”
The system will be initially live from 4pm to 8pm Monday till Friday.
Young people can make queries outside of these times, which will generate a “ticket.” Youth Information Workers then pick up and respond to outstanding ticket when they system next becomes active.
KDYS with a group of teenagers from Kerry and Italy have launched a campaign to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. They have created a video with a very important message for their peers and for all people. They have pledged their commitment to this cause and they are calling on all young people and all of us to do the same. Their campaign is to observe our physical distancing and all of the measures in the Health guidelines in order to keep us safe and flatten the spread of the virus. The campaign is called:
KDYS Youth Worker Michelle O’ Neill coordinated a determined group of Kerry young people who partnered with Italian young people on an international exchange through KDYS European Youth Centre ‘eurOg’ last year. They have created a powerful message for all of us to hear.
KDYS is a community based youth work organisation working with young people and communities in Kerry since 1971. The organisation constantly evolves and adapts as the needs of young people change through the generations.
The pandemic sweeping the world calls us to action now more than ever to connect with and support our young people. KDYS is partnering with young people to play a vital role in protecting our communities.
In recent days the world has anxiously witnessed the alarming pace at which the Covid-19 virus is spreading. The highly infectious nature of the virus makes us all a potential threat to each other if we don’t observe the critical health guidelines. The importance of physical distancing and hand hygiene is repeatedly impressed on everyone, however we continue to see people ignoring this each day.
In the course of this a great deal of attention has fallen on young people and stories of them gathering in groups throughout our towns and villages. This has invoked a lot of frustration and anger towards young people but we should be careful not to single them out as the main culprits. Instead we need to acknowledge that people of all ages are have been slow to embrace our new ways of living and interacting and we should also remember that the majority of people – young and old – are complying with HSE and WHO guidelines.
In KDYS a group of young people have made a video to send out an important message to their peers and to all people. Their message is about doing your part to protect yourself and others in the fight against Covid-19. They are inspirational and thoughtful. They want people of all ages, in all countries to be safe. They are thinking of others and this is their action in our call to arms in this emergency.
Please watch and share this really important video and share with as many people as possible. Let’s make this go viral in our effort to #flattenthecurve and beat the virus.
We are asking all young people and adults to be heroes and save lives by pledging to ‘I’m in and I’m staying in’.
Send us your pledge via our social media sites using the hashtag #ImIn&ImStayingIn & #KDYSHeroes – it can be an image, message, comment, so that we can build solidarity with each other and the rest of the world in this fight.
