All Island Initiative on how Poverty, Exclusion and Structural Inequalities impacts on Mental Health

CDHN and our partners in Community Work Ireland were delighted to facilitate a North South exchange visit to Derry/Londonderry as part of the Voice Equality Experience Power initiative, supported by Shared Island Civic Fund.  The exchange brought together a diverse group of community workers, mental health practitioners, people with living experience of mental health issues and academics from right across Ireland. 

We were delighted that Mayor Lillian Seenoi-Barr was able to join us to welcome us to her beautiful city and we began with an uplifting session with Songs without Borders, where locals and newcomers alike are welcomed to connect through song. 

We were hosted by the Holywell Trust on the first afternoon, where we heard about the great community work happening across the North West in Derry and Donegal. Gary from Arc Fitness, Roisin Ferry from Clarendon Medical, Pat Byrne from Sole Purpose and Paul Kernan from Donegal Intercultural Platform all shared the ways in which their organisations are tackling mental health within their communities. We also spent some time discussing the key themes that came out of our webinars earlier in the initiative.

On Friday, our workshops were hosted in The Old Library Trust Healthy Living Centre, where George gave us in insight into the history of the centre, and the great work that the organisation does in the area.  The participants then spent some time discussing the policy context and practical reality of mental health & community work across the island, which was facilitated by Edel Quinn.  The exchange ended with a constructive open dialogue to discuss the next phase of the project, which will focus on building a common language for collaboration on mental health in the community.