Good News Gazette, Issue #14 Volunteering, Biodiversity, & Mental Health |
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This month, we celebrated National Volunteering Week! Each year, across Ireland, this week hosts a range of events, stories and videos that showcase all that is great about volunteering and highlights the incredible people, from near and far, who make such a difference in our communities. The theme for this year's week was 'Connecting Communities'. We heard stories from all kinds of volunteers covering every skill imaginable - from knitting lessons and sing-a-longs to coastal clean-ups and radio hosting. To celebrate, Volunteer Ireland produced a video that pays witness to the powerful impact of volunteering through the stories of Vumani, Ilona, Alina, Mohamed & Mildred. This video highlights the contributions of displaced individuals in Ireland and celebrates the impact they make in our communities. Hear from the volunteers here. |
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Criodán Ó Murchú, the Science Outreach Executive at Midlands Science, celebrates Ireland's biodiversity. |
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Margarida Pedro Victor, and ICOS Irish Fellow and volunteer, stands with Mozambique's flag at an event. |
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Preserve & Protect During National Biodiversity Week (May 19th - 28th), Midlands Science ran a series of guided biodiversity walks for for primary schools, with the aim of communicating the importance of preserving and protecting our national biodiversity. Participants were encouraged to explore and learn about the rich biodiversity in their very own communities. Criodán Ó Murchú, Science Outreach Executive with Midlands Science, detailed the importance of experiencing nature first-hand. “As the climate crisis continues, we need everyone within our localities to play their part in guaranteeing the future for all. We need educated and enthusiastic people of all ages to be equipped with the skills combined with an affinity for the living world around us all.” You can read more about Midland Science's work here. |
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Connecting Communities Margarida Pedro Victor is an ICOS Irish Fellow from Mozambique. While studying for her master’s in Ireland she uses her spare time as a student to connect with her community through volunteering as a digital literacy tutor with Age Action and with Maynooth Tidy Towns Association. "I knew I was only going to be here a year, which isn’t a long time. Anytime I go to a new place, I try to make a difference, even if it's only for one person. So, I went searching for ways to volunteer. I found Age Action and got started tutoring digital literacy. I was training adults to use any electronics they had. They began learning more about technology and I started learning more about Irish culture, it was like a live library! I’ve gotten so much out of volunteering here and the work has been happy work. That’s what I love most.” Read Margarida's full story here. |
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Transition year students sit with an elderly woman for an awareness raising session. |
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On Wednesday the 10th of May, on the grounds of Saint Joseph’s Shankill, Transition Year students from St Joseph’s Cluny, CBC Monkstown, Oatlands College, North Wicklow Educate Together and Loreto Bray, gathered to celebrate a new educational partnership between Saint Joseph’s Shankill and the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland. The hope for the programme is to bring together combined knowledge and experience to reach all students and to play their part in creating a dementia inclusive generation. The partnership, named 'Creating a Dementia Inclusive Generation’, offers a transition year programme that gives students a chance to connect with an innovative and engaging dementia awareness programme. Comprising of six information and awareness sessions, students learn about growing older, a healthy brain, dementia, and its perceptions. Once they've completed the course, they become peer-to-peer educators and help deliver a series of lessons to others in the school. |
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Hugh Morley (center), Head of Business at Cork Counselling Services, stands with his Cork Counselling Services colleagues at a community event. |
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"I really believe that giving people the attention they deserve, showing them they aren't alone is essential. It’s where real healing begins." |
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**This We Act story contains themes surrounding mental health. Please read safely and responsibly.** Mental Health Awareness Week takes place every May and aims to increase understanding and learning about mental health in our communities, schools, workplaces, and at home so that everyone can thrive and flourish at every stage of life. Charities across the country, like Cork Counselling Services (CCS), help to make this goal a reality; working to ensure the community’s mental health needs are met with equity and inclusivity. Hugh Morley, CCS’ Head of Business, tells us how he plays a part in the empowerment and support of their staff, clients, students, and the greater Cork community. This is his story... “I'm a bit of a tourist in life, I wasn’t always in this area of work. This is maybe my third career, but it’s the one where I feel the most challenged and fulfilled. I started out as a computer science engineer, and then wanted to move to the ‘people’ side of things. I found myself in HR for big companies but still wanted to learn more – about human joy, suffering and relationships, both my own and others. I found CCS and did their professional training and was very impressed. I then made my third pivot and landed in this space. Now, I have the responsibility of making sure that this social enterprise of ours works. We feel there's a value and quality to the work we do, because we’re so close to the ground, we’re embedded in our community. With the team, I try and make all that economically feasible by promoting our services and raising funds." |
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Staff members of Cork Counselling Services, including Hugh Morley, stand in front of their offices. Together, the organisation provides individual counselling and psychotherapy to people of all ages. |
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"My work ensures we can pay our staff and function as an organisation that offers high quality counselling, psychotherapy, and training. Outside of my primary business role, I’m also involved in some counselling and training. Being involved with so many aspects of CCS keeps me interested and keeps me engaged. What both the organisation and I believe is that human relationship is both the source of many of our problems and also the solution. So, when we meet people on their personal journeys of pain, it might be depression, anger, anxiety or suicidality, we try to meet them where they are at and relate with them skillfully. We learn to do that through a training that helps us relate to our own difficult experiences." |
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The Cork Counselling Services logo, representing the strength and resilience of an oak tree. |
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"And regularly, I feel like we’re making an impact. It’s really about being there for the person who walks through our doors, sitting with strangers initially and being open to whatever they bring to you. When we do this with compassion, a good relationship tends to develop. Those hugely honest relationships are what bring me to this space. I really believe that giving people the attention they deserve and having them realise they aren't alone is essential. It’s where real healing begins. That’s why our logo is the oak tree. An acorn just falls to the ground and plants itself. If you can create good enough soil and support the right conditions, that acorn will grow into a strong tree. It’s not by poking and prodding. We give people the space to grow and they tend to do that impressively. That's where we get our strapline 'that ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference'. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen often. And so this tourist has found a destination that he's happy to be at!" To learn more about Cork Counselling Services and the programmes available visit www.corkcounsellingservices.ie |
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We Act is a national, collaborative campaign to celebrate the value and impact of the charities and community groups in Ireland. Want to share your own good news story? Email madeline@wheel.ie |
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