GROUP HISTORY

In January 2001 following a number of suicides and para-suicides in the Rosbrien area of Limerick, a number of concerned people in the community approached the bereaved families to ask their permission to put something in place to try and create awareness, and also to help and support those effected by the tragedies.

Not only did the families agree to our request but, each family agreed to be represented by a family member on a committee. This group met and were concerned that what ever they did would be in the best interest of the bereaved families and the young friends of those who had died.

We saw an article in a national newspaper on the crises in Ireland in relation to the suicide epidemic sweeping the Country. We approached the author and set up a meeting in Dublin.

Billy Doran, Derek Higgins, Phonsie O’Brien, JJ Ryan and Richard Eades travelled to meet these two exceptional people, Fr Tony Byrne and Sr. Kathleen Maguire. They had organized seminars and courses to try and create awareness on all the issues relating to suicide. They had recently run a very successful course in Rathmines called FACING UP TO SUICIDE. The people who travelled were very impressed with the contents of the course (that was run one night a week over a period five weeks) coupled with the fact that it hwas already a success in Rathmines.

The group returned to Limerick and reported back to an expanded group of sixteen people. 
THE ROSBRIEN SUICIDE AWARENESS GROUP was formed as a result.

It was suggested that we call the group a support group, but it was felt that the main need was AWARENESS and  we did not have the expertise to act as a support group.

Our first task was to do something immediately, so we asked Fr. Tony and Sr. Kathleen if they would aggree to present a one evening seminar based on their course FACING UP TO SUICIDE, and they duly obliged us. The Seminar was a huge success with nearly 300 people attending and as result we have had many requests since to bring the full Rathmines course to Limerick.

We will be hosting this course in September next. 
For details click on events on our main page.

At earlier meetings, the families affected complained of the poor quality of services and lack of information available to them at their time of need, raised numerous issues. A number of the young people who died had come into contact with the Mid Western Health Board (MWHB) MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES and the families were most unhappy with the treatment received. There was also problems with notification and identification. They were unhappy with the way inquests were being conducted and none of the families had been offered bereavement counselling. There was serious concern that young people in the area who had lost a number of friends through suicide had also received no counselling.