St Nathys make commitment to good mental health

Sligo Ladies Football club, St Nathys LGFA, has added its weight to the fight for good mental health by supporting Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Service’s Text 50808 service.

Crowned the LGFA’s Lidl One Good Club champions earlier this year, St Nathys have marked the occasion to gift every club member with a club jersey emblazoned with the details of the lifesaving mental health provider.

The club officially launched the jersey at an event last weekend, where Lidl One Good Club ambassador Nicola Ward and her fellow Galway star and sister Louise were on hand to perform the ceremony.

The commemorative jersey is a special one-of-a-kind design to celebrate the hard work and engagement of the club throughout the Lidl One Good Club program. The shirt displays the One Good Club logo and the Text 50808 service on the front.

The Text 50808 service is a free 24/7 text service that provides support for anyone who needs to chat, right through to immediate support for those in need of help.

“St Nathys decision to promote the Text 50808 service by sporting the service logo on the front of their club training tops will raise further awareness of this excellent service amongst young people and the wider community,” said Thomás McBride, Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Service.

The training jersey was also contributed to by the St Nathys LGFA club sponsor Gormley Construction.

“We are delighted to be able to support the One Good Club initiative ran by St Nathys LGFA. It was a fantastic initiative and to see so many people in the community engaging is just a credit to the committee and the St Nathys Ladies club as a whole.

“I hope this training jersey will remind players, coaches and members of the positive atmosphere they created in the community at such a low time and we are very proud to be associated with the club,” said Tony and Dolores Gormley of Gormley Construction.

The LGFA’s One Good Club programme is an annual event undertaken in association with Lidl and Jigsaw. While partaking in the programne, the St Nathys club focused on promoting positive mental health through the club, from young to old, but also the wider community over the 10-week period.

The framework included activities under the themes ‘Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give’. The clubs steering committee designed and rolled out activities for all different age groups under the outlined themes which led to incredible involvement that give a lift to the whole community.

“The engagement we got from the programme right from the beginning was incredible. There was a great buzz around and people were talking about the upcoming activities and different things we had organised. It gave people something to look forward to when they needed it most,” said Noelle Gormley, Sligo player and St Nathys LGFA steering committee member.

In what has been a year to remember, for many the impact of Covid-19 has meant challenges like we have never seen before. Given the required lockdowns imposed, people across our communities found themselves isolated like never before, not being able to socialise and mix within our ‘normal’ settings.

St Nathys LGFA football club like all other clubs, had to cease activities, games and training. While the club posted and promoted activities for its members online that could be completed from home, it wasn’t quite the same and everyone missed the evenings at the pitch.

The club initially engaged the involvement of Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Service during the organisation of the programme, a partnership that has flourished in the months since.

“We wanted to ensure what we were organising, would be suitable and would be helpful to people. Positive mental health is about creating good habits and helping people stick to them,” said former county star Etna Flanagan, another St Nathys LGFA steering committee member.

“The programme in its structure itself, helped us to create those good habits for people to get them started. For example: one activity we created was mindfulness walks at different locations in our community. People could go to these locations and practice mindfulness using the prompts we had posted. The ideas were simple but effective.”

This past year has taught us many new things including the importance of looking after our mental health. By practicing the five themes of ‘Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give’, you can improve your own mental health and wellbeing.

The One Good Club programme has been an outstanding success for St Nathys LGFA but its impact on the wider community will continue.

For more information on Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Service visit http://text50808.ie , while details on the LGFA’s Lidl One Good Club are available at https://ladiesgaelic.ie/lgfa-hub/clubs/lidl-one-good-club/.