REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NAVAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NAVAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION SOCIAL CLUB NAVAN
Tá lúcháir orm bheith anseo libh inniu agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl díbh as an chuireadh agus as fáilte fíorchaoin.
I was delighted to accept the invitation from your Chairperson, Margot Davis, to officially open this Social Club on behalf of the Navan Mental Health Association, and to pay tribute to the wonderful work of the Association over the past number of years.
Ill health of any kind is a frightening process, both for individuals and their families. That is even more true of mental ill-health, where the scars and trauma are invisible, but the suffering is immense - and made all the worse by public attitudes that have been skewed by centuries of fear and misunderstanding. All too often, those attitudes are absorbed by those with mental health problems, further adding to their sense of isolation and hopelessness.
Thankfully public understanding of mental illness has greatly improved in recent years. But there is still a long distance to go in terms of eliminating prejudice and getting across the message that help is available and can make an enormous difference to the lives of sufferers and their loved ones. If we are to be effective in helping those who suffer mental ill health, we must be able to see beyond the label of their illness to the human being beneath – a person with gifts and abilities that deserve an opportunity to blossom. That person is not just a statistic, but someone’s child, someone’s mother or father, husband or wife, neighbour or work colleague. The reality is that almost every family in Ireland has had, or will have, some experience of mental illness and so we all have a role in promoting a society in which there is greater understanding, acceptance and help for those who suffer mental illness.
That is exactly what this Association is doing – not least through this Social Club which fulfills one of the simplest but most important of human needs – a place of welcome, where each is among people who understand and care, where all are among friends.
It is thanks to the Chairperson, Margot Davis, the Committee members and the many local people who have worked so hard, that this Association, and especially its Social Committee is such an outstanding success. Your energy and generosity of spirit, your refusal to take no for an answer, to keep pushing on behalf of others in need, has made a real difference in the lives of so many individuals and their families. On behalf of all those people, I would like to say a warm, heartfelt thank you to each one of you for caring and, more importantly, for doing something about it.
I congratulate you all once again on your achievements to date. I know that you have ambitious plans for the future, especially in terms of getting a Social Housing Scheme off the ground, and I wish you every success in that and with all your future work.
Go maire sibh.