Hello SOS friends and followers and hello winter…It is hard to believe we are at the end of November already. This year has certainly been an unusual one, as with the rest of the country, Suicide or Survive were asked to close our doors and work from home in mid-March due to the Corona Virus pandemic sweeping the world. Our programmes could no longer go ahead and for everyone’s safety we decided to work from home and put a hold on all of our programmes and workshopsThis was not going to be an easy road ahead but within just a few weeks we developed our online wellness webinars, also known as our personal growth and development sessions. Since April we have been bringing the public webinars every week on a variety of topics, Loneliness, Trauma, The Continuum, Hope, Suicide, Happiness, Thinking and more! It has been an amazing journey and we have been able to reach over 2,250 people with out webinars. We also moved our other programmes, WRAP, Eden and Supporters to an online platform – it has been a real learning curve and we thank each of you for your understanding and participation in any of our programmes this year.
SOS has seen a great commitment and support from our local communities, with many people coming on board to fundraise for us. Some of you may have even taken part in some. We had The Wolf Run, 20-4-20, Facebook Fundraisers, Shankill GAA, DLR waves, Waterford Cycle, Pitch & Putt, Marathons and so much more! We are blown away by the fantastic support shown to us this year, we know it has been tough on people both financially and mentally, so it means the world to us that you have shown us so much love and support.
We have also had the great opportunity to work with some fantastic organisations in bringing workplace wellness programmes to their managers and employees. It has been a real honour to work with these organisations, who are implementing real change in the attitudes towards mental health in the workplace. Thanks to IBEC, Bank of Ireland, Alexion, HPRA, Momentum, Xilinx, PayPal, Extern, Ernest & Young and everyone who has worked with us this year to create change and break down the stigma.
We hope you enjoy this winter edition of the Connect Newsletter, a big thank you to all of you for your continued support, without you, this journey would not be possible.
Sending you well wishes, stay safe
 Barry Sheridan
CEO, Suicide or Survive.
CEO, Suicide or Survive.
MEET THE TEAM
ALICE HARTIGAN
I joined team SOS in July 2018, before that I had finished a BA Degree in Character and Makeup Design from The Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT). I loved my time in college and had previously completed an art portfolio course in Sallynoggin Institute of Further Education. My five years in the creative arts was a real joy and I was privileged to be taught by amazing people and meet some of my best friends and now husband during that time.Â
While I was studying in IADT, I became active in the Students’ Union, Societies and was Class Rep for three years. My involvement with all of these sparked an interest in social issues and politics. I was chair of the LGBT Society and after my four years in IADT, I was elected President of the IADT Students’ Union. My time in the SU was amazing  and taught me a lot.
After working in the Union I found a variety of other work before landing in the office of Suicide or Survive. I’ve really enjoyed the last two years and love working somewhere that is trying to create change in the world.
 I still love makeup and in my free time I can often be found looking at the latest makeup trends or spending way too much money on the newest eyeshadow palette. I have one cat, Miss Catalie Portman – who I love and enjoy going to concerts (hopefully they can return to soon)Â
HPRA and our mental wellbeing journey with SOS
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Here in the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) our role is to protect and enhance public and animal health by regulating medicines, medical devices and other health products and to monitor the safety of cosmetics.Â
The health of people and animals is at the very core of everything we do. This core ethos is also embedded into our organisational culture with the health and wellbeing of everyone working in the HPRA being a key part of our organisational strategy. We are committed to providing an organisational culture where healthy lifestyle choices are valued and encouraged, with mental wellbeing a key component of our health and wellbeing strategy…
 The idea for JustMove came about from a conversation between work colleagues in 2019. A challenge was set to run/walk 100km throughout the month of November whilst raising funds for charity. With what started off as just a group of work colleagues coming together to do this, we said we would set up a page on social media to try attract some attention and we also opened this up to the general public. A group of 30 came together to raise just over €2,000 in 2019.
The way this year has turned out…
What an unusual year it has been to say the least. In March, life as we knew it for many of us was put on hold so to speak, access to supports and networks that we usually rely on were, for now, put out of reach. Covid19 really challenged Suicide or Survive when it came to the delivery of our educational wellness programmes. Under normal circumstances we would be busy each week travelling the country offering a variety of workshops to communities, organisations, and businesses, unfortunately this has been temporarily paused.
We as a team committed to doing all we could and can to offer much needed support to people all around the country and have been able to respond to change by creating our online Personal Growth and Development sessions or as many of you might know them, the Wellness Webinars. These sessions along with our WRAP, Eden and Supporter programmes all moved to an online platform to stay safe and protect each other in line with Government guidelines, during this worldwide pandemic.
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Read more here
FESTIVE FUNDRAISER
Fancy getting Jumpered for SOS ??
We are hoping you will join us in support of our SOS Christmas jumper day mental health Fundraising campaign. This December give the gift of YOU.
Get festive and fun and put yourself in the picture.
Register your unique Jumper & fundraiser page here :Â https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/SOSXmasJumperDay2020
Then it’s simple….
- Dress in your Christmas Jumper
- Take a snap & uploadÂ
- Donate to SOS & support of a great cause.
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Get your business , organisation, work colleagues, friends and family, sports club dressed to impress & raise some funds this December for Suicide or Survive.
We really appreciate all your support , if you are interested and want to get involved contact anthony@suicideorsurvive.ie and we will fully support you on your Jumper day this December.Â
Suicide or Survive are delighted to bring our webinars to the public during the month of December. We know this can be a hard time of year for many people and so we will be hosting a range of webinars during this period.
All our sessions are free to attend, thanks to our funding from the National Office for Suicide Prevention. To learn more and to register on one of these sessions, please click here