On Friday, 27 April at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, PleaseTalk.org celebrated it’s fifth anniversary with President Michael D Higgins and other distinguished guests and friends of Pleasetalk.org.
How it began
PleaseTalk launched in 2007 in UCD in response to the deaths of a number of students by suicide. By March 2008 it had been adopted by all of the universities in the Republic of Ireland and extended into Northern Ireland in November 2011.
What is PleaseTalk?
The objectives of Please Talk are twofold:
- Firstly, the campaign has a core message that “talking is a sign of strength”. This encourages students to talk to someone if they’re going through a tough time.
- Secondly, the PleaseTalk website highlights the extensive supports available to students on their respective campuses throughout the island of Ireland, as well as other external information and services.
PleaseTalk today
PleaseTalk is currently delivered by the Inspire Foundation and funded by the HSE through the National Office for Suicide Prevention.
Support
Commenting on its support of PleaseTalk Catherine Brogan, Acting Director for the HSE’s National Office for Suicide Prevention said, “We have been a firm supporter of this initiative since its inception. It is a huge achievement to see how the PleaseTalk campaign has grown to become a National initiative. This campaign supports the key messages of the National Mental Health Campaign in relation to ‘talking to someone when times are tough, listening to someone in distress and stressing the importance of seeking help early’. It also promotes the message that ‘you are not alone’ and that there is help and support available”.
Today, PleaseTalk is an All-Ireland initiative present in 34 campuses across 32 counties with the potential to reach 500, 000 students letting them know that “talking is a sign of strength”.
