This article is from page 11 of the 2011-04-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
CLARE has become the pilot county for a new service which aims to offer community support for people who have suffered a crisis or who are recovering from, or going through, depression.
And according to the facilitator of the service, that’s everyone.
The Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAC) is a system developed in the States which aims to give people the tools to help themselves and others to recover from a crisis.
“Our target audience is everyone because there is no-one who has not suffered loss, gone through grief or stress or had some kind of crisis in their lives, which means we are all in recovery. That’s particulalry true now, with people who have lost their jobs, carers, people facing financial difficuties – there are all kinds of stresses which we have to deal with,” said Liam Minogue, the project coordinator for Clare.
The project is currently available in Ennis and East Clare and will shortly be rolled out in West and North Clare. It is funded by the philanthropic organisation, the Genio Trust and Clare, Tipperary and Limerick have been chosen as the three lead centres for the programme.
People taking part in the programme work with trained facilita- tors to develop a plan to identify the problem, take control and use various tools to cope with stress in the future. The programme offers vital support from peers and helps participants develop a daily maintenance plan to keep the momentum of recovery up.
“The first step to recovery is empowerment,” said Liam. “What people need to realise is that you can’t do it alone – we need support and our aim is to have trained facilitators in every community who can help anyone who wants to avail of this programme.”
To that end, there are training programmes planned for people interested in becoming facilitators. First, however, there are courses coming up for those who want to be trained in peer support.
The course – like all of the programme – is free and takes two days with the next one planned for Limerick on April 28. Clare people are welcome to take part.
“By the time this pilot project ends in October, we want to have trained groups throughout Clare. We want trained people to organise peer support groups in their communities so that everyone has access to this programme,” said Liam.
Anyone who would like more details or information about times and places of meetings can contact Liam on 085 8267778.