Community remembers those lost to suicide
By Aura McMenamin
A woman has gathered over 1,200 signatures for a petition calling for a free drop-in mental health service in the area, as the community came together to remember those lost to suicide.
Over 100 people attended a vigil for suicide prevention last Saturday in Cherry Orchard, as the community came together to remember lost loved ones and called for mental health services to be introduced.
In the days before the vigil, Cherry Orchard woman Lisa Palmer said she knocked on ‘as many doors as she could’ with a petition calling for a 24/7 clinic with professionals to offer crisis intervention.
Both she and Kelly Ryan, the organiser of the vigil, say Cherry Orchard has been hit with a spate of suicides in the past year and adequate services are needed.
Palmer, who has herself suffered with mental health problems, said she was frustrated by the process of filling out forms and waiting for appointments to access mental health services.
Speaking to The Echo, she said: “As a resident of Cherry Orchard I have witnessed the loss in the community over the years through suicide.
“In my lifetime I have experienced the mental health system first-hand from dealing with depression.”
Palmer, a Special Needs Assistant (SNA) at St Dominic’s College, took on the task of going from house to house in different areas in Ballyfermot with her petition, gathering hundreds of signatures.
She said: “After three days I was exhausted. Thankfully some past-pupils at St Dominic’s saw me with the petition and immediately took on different areas to help me with it.”
Palmer says the petitioning team has now grown to ten people – taking in areas like Cherry Orchard, Barnville, Crawford, Cedar Wood, Landen and beyond.
Palmer said her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Since gathering hundreds of signatures, she was given ‘100 per cent’ backing from the Ballyfermot Resources Centre, which she is hoping will help her form a steering committee to tackle the area’s mental health issues.
The SNA hopes to continue gathering signatures until the Dáil resumes on September 20 where she will present the petition to Minister for Health Simon Harris.
She said: “I will continue this petition and would love to see Simon Harris address this petition in the upcoming budget to allocate funding and manpower for this clinic.
“It would basically save lives and open up doorways for other initiatives to educate people and further their lifespan.”
She said she had been contacted by a local qualified counsellor, Glen O’Callaghan, who offered to provide counselling hours to people in need, as well as local medium Lorna Gill who wants to give classes on mindfulness and positivity
Organiser and Cherry Orchard woman Kelly Ryan was moved to create Saturday’s vigil for the same reasons, as she saw the loss of several young women in the area.
Standing at the fields across from the Church of the Most Holy Sacrament in Cherry Orchard, men and women from the Cherry Orchard area and beyond laughed and cried together as they lit sky lanterns and watch them disappear into the air.
Balloons and heart-shaped paper notes were strung along the fencing around the field, with messages written by parents, partners, friends and children to loved ones who had taken their lives.
Speaking at the event was Clondalkin man John Quinn, who lost his own son to suicide and spoke about his grieving experience.
The trail of paper lanterns on the field’s pathway stretched several feet. Kelly Ryan said she wanted people to remember that ‘there was always a light at the end of the tunnel’.
The mother-of-five agreed that a drop-in service with professional staff that didn’t discriminate against addicts was crucial, particularly for the next generation of Ballyfermot residents.
She said: “They need a place to go. I want my 15-year-old son to have a place to go and talk if he needs help.”
Ryan said a Christmas-time vigil is planned for this December. She appealed to have a Christmas tree in the field.
