Download - July 2014 Newsletter 30th June
My Mind in Ranelagh is offering discounted counselling
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Newsletter
G a t e w a y
Unit 1, 2 Parker Hill, Rathmines Road, D 6. E-mail : [email protected]
JULY 2014
W elcome to the July edition of the Newsletter. Summer is here,
and it looks like its going to be another cracker. We hope you enjoy the
Never give up hope
I lived for nine years in a Dublin men’s
hostel and all was well for many years, till
a man moved in next door to me. He was
jealous because I was clean dressed and
had peace of mind. He did not, so he kept
banging on my wall for one year. He was driving
me mad. I tried everything without success. A
lovely lady, Maura, helped me get other places
to try and live. One day Simon apartments were
mentioned and if all went well, they said they’d
ring both of us to let us know,
“I had only a prayer”
In my course one day my friend rang me and
said she had news about the apartment. I was
blessed, she said ‘You got the apartment’ she
shouted, and I screamed and everyone looked at
me, I said it was ok. I moved in and it was like
Heaven, quiet at night, wonderful staff,
residents great. Jesus never let me down Jesus
and God.
Pat
Just to let you
know there are
Reiki sessions now
available to
Gateway
members, and it is
very good at
helping to reduce
stress and a good
complimentary
therapy. And it is Free!! It is on in York Street in
the city-centre.
Hi.
I went to the Reiki session organised by Gateway
in the Mercer street DCC. Geraldine laid hands
on me very gently while I was sitting relaxed with
my eyes closed in a room with the blinds closed
and soft music playing. I felt a bit sleepy before
the session and refreshed afterwards. She said I
should drink water frequently and warned me that
thoughts could come up for me over the next few
days and not to dismiss them, just go with them.
Thanks to staff for organising it. Paul
Enlightening talk
by Finn from the
HOPSACK
O n the 12th of
June, Finn from
the hopsack
came to talk to
Gateway members. He came
to talk about healthy eating.
He gave a choice of topics,
and the three topics we the
group chose were digestion,
energy and sleep. The topic
of most interest to me was
info on digestion.
On this topic, there was the
recommendation not to drink
(whether that be water,
alcohol, or any sort of drink
at all…) when eating food.
The reason for this is that
when your body is digesting
food, what the stomach does
is to break down the food.
When you drink with food,
the drink dilutes stomach
acid and the food doesn’t
break down, and digestion in
the body doesn’t
happen….I’m going to try
abstaining from water during
meals and see how my
digestion (or indigestion)
gets better.
There was another new plan
around diet, which we
learned about good digestion.
It is something that came
from the Italians. It is how to
eat your food in a specific
order, to maximize good
digestion. You start with
salad, then carbs, then
protein. Salad, maybe with
oil, maybe olive oil, is how
the Italians like to start their
meals. Next is the
carbohydrates, preferably
brown rice, potatoes, brown
pasta, and bread, for
optimum nutrition. That’s
the second food, if you’re not
one for the wholegrain ones,
you can eat the white ones at
this stage. The third one to
eat would be protein. It takes
too long to digest, it gets in
the way of the other foods. It
might be better for the belly,
if you’re having porridge in
the morning, to soak it the
night before.
One last tip he shared with us
was to have an energy boost
in the morning try some
cayenne pepper in warm
water. You can get more tips
at his shop in the Swan
Centre.
Clodagh
COURSES IN GATEWAY
There is still time to sign up for a course this year
in Gateway. The Personal Development
Programme is starting on the 6th of August, and
there will be more info sessions for this during
July (anyone wishing to sign up will need to
attend an info session). Mindfulness is back this
Autumn as well (date to be confirmed), and
Creative Writing will be starting back in
September.
Going fishing..
Gerry the Good Garda is again taking us fishermen/
fisherwomen out on another fishing trip to cast our
nets and fly our flies.
So remember Monday the 7th of July, Parker
Hill at 11.00 am if you want to go and fish with
Gerry...
Act The
Maggot
This course which ran
through Gateway
recently was interesting
and fun! During the
seven weeks, one
afternoon a week,
twenty of us
participants, got to
meet up, God Bless the
teacher, Amy, it was
like a classroom of
children at times as we
immersed ourselves in
various activities, each
week you didn't know
what we'd be doing or
what to expect!
“miming,
mimicking and
story-telling”
We did light exercises,
miming and mimicking
and story-telling and
then down to more
serious stuff with role-
playing which was
educational and learning
to be more assertive in
daily situations. On the
last two weeks we
completed a vision-
board from cuttings
from magazines of what
we would like out of life
or to describe our
personalities while
listening to relaxation
music, some people's
were fantastic and very
arty and creative!
I would like to
commend Amy who
made the course so
interesting and fun. She
was lovely and lively.
The overall consensus
by everyone was that it
was of benefit and
enjoyable. We all got to
know each other better
and were a lovely
group. I'd recommend
this course to anyone
who wants to improve
their self-confidence
and have a bit of fun at
the same time!
Ann Marie
MENTAL HEALTH REFORM
have been busy, (see article below)
and Gateway members have been
busy getting involved with them.
Recently they held their AGM
(Annual General Meeting) which
was attended by Mary B and Oliver
D, who by all accounts did us very
proud. We hope to hear more about
that soon… They also held an event
in June to launch their new website;
Fionn and Oliver D attended this,
among others. The new site is
www.mentalhelp.ie - check it out to
find out more information on what
services are available to you or
someone you care for, as well as
what your rights are and how to get
your voice heard.
Mental Health
Reform thingy...
R egular readers will
remember that several
Gateway members
attended a Mental
Health Reform Public Consultation a
few months back, where they asked
for our input on the Mental Health
Services in Ireland. Well they
listened to what we had to say, and
here is what has happened since, in
their words…
Keeping in touch with what is
happening on the ground for
people with mental health
difficulties is vital to our advocacy
work. Last year, we held public
consultation meetings in Mayo,
Wexford, Balbriggan and Dublin
city, covering each of the four
HSE regions. These meetings
are a good way for Mental Health
Reform to hear local experiences
of mental health services and
identify specific issues on which
we will advocate. The meetings
were attended by a total of 300
people, among them service
users, family members/carers
and professionals. At the
meetings, we shared the
coalition’s picture of recovery-
orientated mental health
services, led discussions on what
helps people’s recovery from
mental health difficulties and
informed people of ways to
advocate locally for better mental
health services.
Two common themes emerged
from the meetings: concerns
about the lack of out-of-hours
access to mental health supports
for people in a crisis and about
the over-use of medication.
Following the meetings, Mental
Health Reform prepared a
briefing note for Minister for
Mental Health Kathleen Lynch,
TD, raising both of these issues
and quoting comments by
individuals who shared their
stories with us.
Another issue raised in 2013 was
the need for an independent
complaints mechanism for mental
health services, something we
followed up on with a position
paper, submissions to the HSE
and the Expert Group reviewing
the Mental Health Act, 2001, and
a series of case studies on our
website.
Check out mentalhealthreform.ie for
more.
P ool
Competition
Drama!
There was much excitement
and anticipation in Gateway
for the monthly pool competition. The pros had their
eye on the prize as always and the amateurs amongst us
thought today could be our day to get our hand on the
much coveted Certificate! There were a few close
games and the excitement was building. Nine players
entered the competition. It came down to a closely
contested final between Sandra and Nicholas. With
plenty of skill on display
between the two finalists,
Nicholas came through to be
the winner for the June
competition. Congrats to
Nicholas!
Also it was decided at the last
members’ meeting that there
would be interest in having two monthly competitions
in July and August on a trial basis. So come along for
extra pool shenanigans this summer on Thursday the
17th and 31st of July, and the 14th and 28th of August.
A f ew o f my
f avour i t e th in g s…
Mary Q
Colour: Yellow
Season: Summer
Sound: Of Water on Stones
Clothes: Summer Clothes
Music: Relaxing Music
Film: Beaches
Book: “The Lilac
Bus”
Hero: Whitney Houston
11 Wynnefield Road Dublin 6. Ph. 01-4965558 www.projectgateway.blogspot.com
Views expressed in this newsletter are only views of the contributors and not views of the
Gateway Project.
Arts & Crafts
The incredibly creative Arts &
Crafts group meet every Thursday in
the back room in Parker Hill. Their
theme for June was mask making
and as you can see it was a huge
success! In July they will be doing
stop motion video, which has been
great fun in the past. The art teacher
(there are some who call him ‘Tim’)
will be leading the group on an
outing again this month, they’re off
to the Little Museum by Stephen’s
Green. Come along for a fun day
out, meet at Parker Hill on Thursday
the 10th of July at 1pm.
The WRAP Café
We are still meeting on the last Monday of the month
from 2:30 to 4:30 in the back room in Parker Hill. This
discussion group is for people who have completed level
1 WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan), but anyone with an interest
in WRAP is welcome to sit in if there is space on the day. Last month we
had a special visit from Victoria Enright, who interviewed some
WRAPPERS (Richard, Paul, Ann Marie, Tom, Ali & Fionn) about their
experience of using WRAP to keep well. We’ll be looking forward to
hearing it on the airwaves, hopefully sometime this Autumn! If you are
interested in joining us come along on the 28th of July, or give Mary B a
call on 01-4965558. –Ali
NO MORE TOAST
We are sad to say that Oliver D is no longer
available to continue hosting the Wednesday
meet-ups in Toast.
Oliver has been very dedicated to this weekly meet-up and we would like
to say a big THANK YOU to him for this.
If anyone else would like to take up the reins on this meet-up, please let
us know and we will advertise it in the newsletter.
The Natural History
Museum of Ireland.
The Art Day at the Natural History
Museum in May. We caught the bus
to the premises and all met up
together outside the entrance to the
Museum. It was free of charge to
enter. Tim the Art tutor led us
inside. There is a huge collection of
stuffed animals, wildlife, birds and
sea life to be seen. What a variety
of species to be seen there. There
are glass cases to protect the species
collection in the Museum. The floor
has air ventilation breathing up
through the ground to help preserve
the conditions things are stored.
There is a name place with the title
of what we were looking at giving
us a clue to what we were seeing.
We went upstairs as there were
more spaces for us to discover. In
some cases a little of the natural
environment is included as a setting
place. We were allowed to take
photos. We all went for coffee and
cake and a chat afterwards. -Oliver R