Mental health experts provide advice at Fivemiletown event

HUNDREDS of people passed through Fivemiletown’s Valley Hotel last Wednesday to talk and listen to mental health experts, support service providers, and other like-minded locals.

Organised by a lady from the village, Mairead Phair, in response to an unprecedented string of suicides in the area, the event was attend by over one hundred people and about a dozen organisations.

Reflecting on its success, Ms Phair – who in the intervening week has been lauded as a ‘godsend’ and ‘the hero of Fivemiletown’ – said she will ‘never understand the true impact of the event’.

“It went great. In fact, it was absolutely brilliant,” began the Women’s Aid worker.

“There was so much essential information passed between the service representatives and the people who attended. As well as that, local people were able to share their own experiences with each other.

“People were saying that they were finding out about help lines and crisis support that they were surprised they hadn’t been informed about by their doctors.”

Ms Phair cited one story that she was told by a local woman who, after taking her severely emotionally distressed daughter to the GP, was instructed to take the young girl home and ‘sit with her’.

“This was crisis point and the doctor never even thought to tell this lady about the voluntary services that could have helped them through that time. There are so many services that are free, without waiting lists, and available around the clock.”

There were people from the event inspired to come for variety of reasons. There were parents recently bereaved by suicide, people keen to learn skills to help them cope with their own mental health challenges, and a large number of men of different ages.

“I said before that I wouldn’t have been surprised if a lot more women showed up than men, purely because there is that idea of men speaking about their feeling still persists.

“However, I was delighted to see that a lot of local men showed up. That was fantastic to see,” said Ms Phair. “Hopefully that is proof that men are beginning to feel more comfortable learning and speaking about their mental health.”

This was a one-off event but an occasion that could well save a life in the future, the knock-on effect being something that can never been fully known.

Before everybody left, Ms Phair ended the evening by saying, “Please, whatever you learned here tonight, try to pass onto others. Remember, always be kind to others, and always be kind to yourself.”

Present at the event were Enniskillen’s Aisling Centre; Oak Healthy Living Centre; Youth Action; Niamh Louise Foundation; Together with Solace, Omagh; Brenda McElroy Counselling; Aware NI; Amanda O’Neill Therapy; Linda Johnson Life Coach; and Papyrus, all of whose contact details are available one social media or by typing their name into an online search engine.