SOSAD Dundalk providing counselling to 70 people a week

SOSAD Dundalk, a local charity that was initially set up to specialise in suicide prevention, and has since grown in the mental health services it provides, has seen over 1,070 local people who availed of its services since it opened in 2010.

Councillors at the Dundalk Municipal District October meeting were given a presentation by Peter Nordon and Rhiannon McClelland from SOSAD Dundalk on some of the work they do and the services SOSAD provides to the local community.

Explaining how SOSAD has grown since 2010, Peter Nordon told the meeting that the way the landscape has changed over the last number of years, with mental health is coming to the fore, they are “trying to get in early”, rather than waiting until suicide ideation begins.

SOSAD Dundalk began in 2010 at Williamson's Place but demand was so high for its services that it moved to its current location of 42 Jocelyn Street.

Currently this year they are seeing 70 people, with eight new people presenting during that week, Peter told the meeting. That number is growing week on week, he added, as the darker nights of winter come in.

Depending on the level of need, those that enter SOSAD services are provided with an hour's counselling a week, which may run for six weeks or 12 weeks, with the SOSAD team determining if it needs to be extended. The only restriction, Peter added was that those seeking to enter its services, must be over 16 years of age.

As a charity, SOSAD depends on local donations and fundraising activities, but it is hoped that an application for Section 39 assistance from the HSE will be successful. If it is, Peter told the meeting, “that will open a lot more doors”, as it will then receive funding from the HSE.

Explaining how the service works, Rhiannon McClelland, who is the Branch Coordinator for SOSAD Dundalk, told the meeting that they work on a self referral system, so all someone has to do is give them a call, drop them an email or call into the office.

They will then be contacted for a chat, to find out what the situation is, get them to fill in a form, which Rhiannon says is “just a very general form” that helps find out a little about what is going on with the person and some personal details.

They are then invited in for the intake session, which is an informal chat, to go through the form and explain how the service will work.

One thing that Rhiannon stressed that they wanted to get across in relation to suicide prevention was that very often people feel they must be at that end stage or crisis point before they can reach out for the SOSAD service.

That is not the case she stressed, and people could be on the opposite end of the scale where they are facing some sort mental health difficulty and feel they need a little bit of support.

“Our aim is to never let it progress to that stage where they feel that they don't have any other option or that it is becoming too much to bear”, Rhiannon told the meeting.

20 volunteer counsellors, with ten local to Dundalk, provide the counselling at SOSAD, Rhiannon added. The services include face to face sessions; there are online options and phone call options; with SOSAD always try accommodate the person at their level of need.

Outside of that there is the 24/7 free helpline, and a messaging service which is open in the evening times, that is more popular among younger people.

They are also becoming more involved in the local community with counsellors going into schools to give talks on mental health. Services also include workshops for young people and bereavement support.

Following the presentation, councillors, including Cllr Maeve Yore, Cllr Conor Keelan and Cllr Seán Kelly spoke, thanking SOSAD for the work they do, highlighting the importance of positive mental health, and pledged to do what they can to help improve mental health services by ensuring it gets the funding it needs.