MARY McAleese has urged young people to seek help if they are struggling with their mental health, saying when she was young, people had to suffer in silence.
The former President said kids today have a lot on their plate and can often feel like they are the only one suffering.
“Young people are absorbed in this issue because there is nobody who hasn’t experienced some level of sadness, grief, anxiety, stress, worry, concern.
“And then throw onto that all the problems life can throw onto kids. They could be coming from homes where there’s abuse, where there’s unemployment, where there’s worry about money, particularly these days.
“And then there’s all the predators that are after them, whether it’s the easy gambling industry all the way to alcohol and drugs.
“Climate change, war in Ukraine – all of these things are compacting in their life space and closing down very often the opportunity for relaxation and joy and fun in life.
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“So the most important message to try and get across to them is those kinds of stresses, the everyday ones, everybody experiences them over a lifetime.
“But in particular during adolescence where they are heightened by all the physical changes that are happening.”
Mary was speaking to the Irish Sun yesterday from Croke Park, where she had delivered a keynote speech in front of hundreds of secondary schoolkids at the One Good School Assembly.
Held by youth mental health charity Jigsaw, it was held to mark the first year completion of a two-year wellbeing programme running in 146 schools in 12 counties in Ireland.
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And she told us that she made the point in stressing that there is help out there for those who need it.
She said: “I was making the point, if I was sitting there in the 1960s when I was their age, we didn’t have organisations and advocacy groups and self help groups. Teachers are now skilled in counselling and mentoring.
“The idea in the past was you suffered in silence, you sat in classrooms where you didn’t have a clue what was going on in the lives of other people around you.
“And they didn’t know about you. And we didn’t share, we were meant to be silenced and stoical, almost secretive about what went on in your lives.”
TIME TO TAKE CARE OF THE MIND
She said many young Irish people are aware of what they need to do to keep their physical health in shape but don’t see the importance of mental strength.
She added: “It’s about taking care of your mind, like so many young people take care of their bodies.
“Between the food intake, the exercise, the gym, the body beautiful. It’s the realisation that the mind is really important.”
Mary’s son Justin is gay and was bullied at school, and she said that the LGBTQ+ community are three times more likely to have depression or suicidal thought while in school.
And she said more needs to be done for students who feel like this, not just in schools, as it comes from all those around them.
She said: “What we are dealing with is the legacy of not allowing people to tell their own truth, getting it out on the table, being themselves, being authentic to themselves and meeting a whole school environment, a family, a community that welcomes who you are and wants to welcome and assist you live life in the light and not in the dark.”
She added: “We need to take mental health seriously as early as possible in the lives of our young people.
“Investing in it, investing in the skills of people who surround our young people, families, teachers, community, Government, schools, so that we have this whole person approach, whole community approach, that is designed to ensure that from the earliest stages our young people become aware that their mental health is their own responsibility, yes, but it’s a responsibility that others will have help in developing to make good choices in life, that will help them flourish and blossom and don’t diminish them.”
For more information,to donate or to seek help from Jigsaw, visit jigsaw.ie.
