President marks 25 years of Aware

Last Saturday, President of Ireland Mary McAleese addressed more than 200 Aware volunteers at a special reception in Dublin to celebrate their role in the delivery of Aware's depression support services nationwide, and to mark the organisation’s 25th year.

Speaking at the event, President McAleese said, "Aware's success is evident in the ways in which its service has been shaped and reshaped over the years, so that today it embraces the up front and personal support group as well as online or e-mail access to support. It is evident in the way in which your advocacy has helped change social attitudes to mental ill-health, encouraging greater openness about its prevalence, promoting good mental health education and practice, making us all more immediately aware of the importance of looking after our mental health as well as our physical health. You can look back with pride at twenty-five years of significant change thanks to your decision to become champions of those who suffer from depression. Now you begin the next twenty-five knowing there is still a lot to be accomplished for there is still a lot of suffering, but now no-one needs to suffer alone or in silence, for as a friend you have been tested and tried these twenty-five years and in all you have done you have proven over and over how right it was to found this organisation twenty-five years ago.'

From one support group in Dublin in 1985, Aware now offers support groups nationwide and online, a loCall Helpline open 365 days a year, the Beat the Blues secondary school programme and other education and awareness initiatives. The organisation depends on the regular commitment of about 300 volunteers across Ireland for the delivery of its support and information services. According to Kevin Smyth, Chief Executive of Aware: "We simply couldn’t provide or develop our services without the volunteers. At the moment we are piloting new online support groups, and again this will be operated by trained volunteer facilitators. At a time when there is so much bad news, it’s great to acknowledge the fact that there is such a sense of community in this country and that people can and do make a real and positive difference in the lives of others."

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