IRD Duhallow Wellbeing and Recovery College Announcement

By SHANE MCHALE Rural Community Health Worker

The Wellbeing & Recovery College is an exciting new initiative in Duhallow, which will have a significant impact on the mental health of our community. Recovery Education is set to roll out across Cork and Kerry in the next couple of years, and we are thrilled that the first green shoots of this work will be visible here in Duhallow.

Adult education as a method of addressing mental health challenges has a long history around the world. Here in Ireland, the first Recovery College launched in Co. Mayo all the way back in 2014. In the years since, Recovery Colleges have spread into most corners of the country and have become an integral part of how we address mental health.

An important aspect of the Wellbeing & Recovery College is the role of “Lived Experience”. Modules are facilitated by people who not only have academic qualifications, but also have lived experience of mental health issues. This means that students who attend the modules will do so knowing that the person facilitating the session has walked a similar road.

Students of the IRD Duhallow Wellbeing & Recovery College will learn about what influences our mental health, self-management of our mental health and be empowered to live life to the fullest, no matter what our starting point is.

This will in turn help to compliment and ease demand on our traditional Mental Health services and contribute to a Duhallow community that is resilient, educated and supportive of mental health issues. This is “prevention is better than cure” put into practice in our community.

But what makes this different to what we’ve experienced before, and how does it all work? Having worked in Mayo Recovery College for a number of years in the past, hopefully I can answer some common questions:

Who is it for?

You, me and everyone around us! I can confidently say that there is no one in our community who would not benefit from attending the Wellbeing & Recovery College.

That may sound like a bold statement, but we are all well aware of the mental health needs of our community. Even if we don’t live with mental health issues ourselves, we almost certainly know someone who does and want to be better able to support them. We also know that learning about maintaining our wellbeing is crucial for being prepared for life challenges. We don’t have to wait for something to go wrong to take care of ourselves!

Students:

Attendees of the Wellbeing & Recovery College are not “Service Users” or “Patients”, they are students, like any other students taking part in any other adult educational course in IRD Duhallow. Everyone joins of their own choice and for their own reasons. Whether they choose to disclose those reasons is entirely up to themselves. There are no exams, no homework, and students themselves decide how often they wish to attend, whether it be one module, all of them, or any number in between.

Recovery Orientated:

Recovery is a word we might associate with physical illness, or getting rid of an illness. In mental health however, recovery refers to living the best life that we can live regardless of the challenges of mental health issues. The Wellbeing & Recovery College will be a significant prevention tool for mental health challenges arising in the future.

Co-Production:

Modules of the Wellbeing & Recovery College are co-produced, which means that they are developed, designed and facilitated by a mix of people with different experiences.

For example, the module “Living with Depression and Beyond”, was co-produced by a group of people, some of whom have their own lived experience of depression, others are professionals working in the field, and others still are parents, partners or some other family/friend connection to a person living with depression.

We are fortunate that both the Mayo Recovery College and ARCHES Recovery College have generously allowed us to run some of their existing modules. In practice, this means that students will, from launch, be able to attend modules created to the highest standard of co-production. This will also be a great starting point for the creation of our own Duhallow modules.

Peer Learning:

If you picture the classic classroom setting, you see the teacher at the top of the room, attempting to pass on knowledge to listening students. However, the Wellbeing & Recovery College operates on a very different model. Peer learning involves equals sharing knowledge with each other. Staff are not teachers, nor do they claim to have all the answers. Rather, we are facilitators of the sessions, who commit to walking alongside students on their journey to better understanding mental health and wellbeing.

Is it all very serious/scary?

One of the most common pieces of feedback I have heard from students is that they never expected to enjoy the experience of attending something like this, they don’t expect to laugh as much as they do. We treat the subjects of our modules with proper respect, and yes, at times there can be tears, however, this is not a support group, nor are we going to be asking anyone to bring up any of their sorrows. We are there to learn from each other, to connect and explore, and nobody will ever be put on the spot.

What does it look like in practice?

Modules run from 10am to 1pm, with a break for tea and coffee in the middle, and are free to attend. This is not a classroom, it’s a more relaxed set up, and if anyone cannot attend the full module, they are very welcome to attend for as long as they can.

We have lots of car parking available here at the James O’Keefe institute and while we prefer students to register in advance (details below), you are also welcome to show up on the day.

So this is your invitation to join in, whether you have Lived Experience of mental health challenges, you are a supporter of someone who does, whether you are professional working in a related field, a community member looking to support others around you or if like myself, you could fit in more than one of those groups, we would love to hear from you and have you involved.

Take a look at our time table, and if anything catches your eye, why not come along. If you would like to register with the IRD Duhallow Wellbeing & Recovery College, or if you have any questions, contact me on 086 811 7526 or email shane. mchale@irdduhallow.com. I look forward to you dropping by during our first term.