Darkness Into Light 2023 walk takes place this Saturday morning

The opening of a Pieta House centre in north Louth, is an aim the committee of Darkness Into Light in Dundalk wish to achieve, and it is appealing to people in Dundalk and surrounding areas to help make this year's walk the biggest yet.

The Darkness Into Light walk takes place this Saturday 6 May(tomorrow), with the walk starting at 4.15am at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).

Event Director, Cllr Seán Kelly, spoke to the Dundalk Democrat ahead of this year's event and said that “in order for us to get a Pieta centre for north Louth, we have to show, 'look how successful Darkness Into Light is, look at the work we've done here since it commenced in 2017'. That's why we want as many people as possible to come out – basically back our own.”

Strength in numbers is vital Seán explains. “In the last couple of years, with Covid especially, we had some pop up venues, around north Louth, in terms of people doing their own thing

“We contacted them in advance of this year to put out the message that we need everybody to come to DkIT because its all about strength in numbers.”.

Darkness Into Light is the annual fundraising event organised by Pieta and supported by Electric Ireland and is taking place in four locations around Louth this year – Dundalk, Ardee, Dunleer and Drogheda.

More than 100,000 people will come together across 200 locations in Ireland, for the most important sunrise of the year.

Each year the walk provides an opportunity for communities to come together to bring hope to people who have been impacted by suicide.

Strength in numbers, Seán explains, is not only important to help bring a Pieta centre to north Louth, but also for the participants who take part in the walk “to see the sea of yellow people (in the Darkness Into Light hi-vis vests) as they're walking down the Avenue Road, is one that provides reassurance to people, and hope.”

“In advance of the event, on the night, and even after the event”, Seán says, “the amount of messages we get from people who say, how beneficial the night is, and how reassuring and the fact they felt hopeful on the night.

“Not only from people who are going through mental health issues themselves at present, but people who have been bereaved by mental health issues as well, those who have lost loved ones.

“And it's just that comfort of the night when everybody is gathering, and the sense of, 'we can beat this', because mental health is still the elephant in the room for a lot of people.”

Seán and the committee have been busy putting the final touches together for this year's event.

“It's hard to know or predict how many people are going to turn up”, he explains.

“Last year we had just over 1,000 registering and about 3,000 turned up on the night, so its hard to ascertain how many will turn up. We're prepared for every eventuality, but the more the better.”

Outlining what the Darkness Into Light committee have planned for this year's event, Seán says that Alan Foran's band, Long Time Coming, will be performing at DkIT from 3.30am.

“The walk itself will commence at 4.15 and then everybody back to the canteen [at DkIT], where we will have refreshments – fruit, cereal bars, tea, coffee, from about 5am onwards, until about 6am.”

Suicide continues to be a real problem in Ireland and was the leading cause of death in young men aged under 25 in the country in 2019.

Darkness Into Light helps raise essential funds and enables Pieta to continue providing free of charge suicide prevention, intervention and bereavement support to people of all ages across Ireland.

In Leinster in 2022 alone, Pieta delivered over 30,000 hours of free, one-to-one therapy, and helped over 4,100 clients. Almost 40% of clients in Leinster presenting to Pieta in 2022 were under 18 years old.

The Darkness Into Light walk itself, also has a massive impact on the people who take part, Seán explains.

“We've literally hundreds of messages, not just me. I've got five amazing people on the committee with me, there's six of us in total, they all get messages from people. They would see them there on the night and they would know them.”

The lack of sufficient mental health services in the north east remains an issue that needs to be overcome, Seán acknowledges.

“I think it obvious for anyone to see that the current set up of mental health services in the north east is not fit for purpose. It's not good enough for our people and we are losing people as a consequence of that.

“Nobody should be turned away from a facility when they when they seek help, when they have a mental health issue. That is what we want to get to, when nobody is turned away.”

“If you look at the work of Pieta House – Pieta House in 2022 alone, saw 6,500 people across Ireland. They offered 50,000 hours of therapy free of charge.

“They answered 100,000 calls and texts on their free phone and free text line. They are to the forefront of the mental health fight in this country.

“I don't think they get the credit they deserve at times.”

He continues, “although we don't have a centre here at the moment, hundreds of people here in Louth in the last couple of years have used the services of Pieta House.

“So its not a case of we don't have a service from Pieta House, hundreds of people use the service in Louth.

“During Covid, they had no choice, they had to move to video therapy and phone therapy because they couldn't do one to one [in person]. So they were able to provide services.

“Also, one of the services Pieta provides, and that you don't often hear about is, they have bereavement support officers in every county in this country, and last year they helped 700 families who were affected by suicide.

“They were with the families, from the moment it happened, straight through, and in those first few weeks when they were dealing with the consequences of losing a loved one. That is a service that is not provided by anyone else.”

Seán also encounters issues people have with mental health services in the area, in his role as a county councillor, and also meets people who have been affected by bereavement.

“As a public rep, I hear a lot about mental health services.

“We get messages all the time about services and how they are either not working for them, or [asking] where they can get additional services. And that's one of the key pieces of work that we need to do, that's what the night is all about.

“The message that we want to get out there is, “It's ok not to be ok” and that even at your darkest hour, hope is only around the corner. And that's the whole symbolism of Darkness Into Light.”

Seán speaks of the emotion of speaking to families who have lost loved ones through bereavement due to suicide and how important the Darkness Into Light walk is to them.

He says that there are those for whom it is a positive way to remember their loved ones, as the anniversary of their deaths can bring negative thoughts.

Hearing things like this brings the importance of Darkness Into Light and the impact is has on people home for Seán.

“The team effort involved in ensuring the Darkness Into Light walk is a success each year is a huge one”, Seán says.

“I'm incredibly blessed by the committee I have here in Dundalk. They are fantastic.

“They go above and beyond everytime. They really should be commended for all they do.

“It's a massive undertaking, to organise an event, the logistics of organising an event with thousands of people at it, is massive, and credit where credit is due.

“And not only to them”, he adds, “to DkIT – the canteen staff, KSG catering, to the Red Cross, to the gardaí, to all our stewards that turn up, the volunteers who come to us from every direction.

“It's great to see it, it's such a community effort. It speaks volumes about Dundalk as a town.

“Because we always come together when the need is there and when we need to do something to help each other.

“It speaks great about the town as a whole and the community spirit that is within it.”

There is still time to register to take part in this year's Darkness Into Light walk, at any of the four venues in Louth, be it Dundalk, Dunleer, Ardee or Drogheda.

“We would encourage people in the mid-Louth area to go to one of those venues”, Seán says, “it's not just about Dundalk, it's about Louth coming together as well.”

Sign up for this year's walk at https://www.darknessin tolight.ie/sign-up.