‘ASK’ – how a conversation can save a life
A pioneering mental health campaign ‘ASK’ was launched by the Mayor Cllr Frank Staples at County Hall in Wexford last Wednesday evening.
The ‘ASK’ campaign takes the form of a series of four posters, each depicting a person removing their ‘ happy-face mask’ to show their ‘unhappy face’ beneath - indicating their true feelings.
Each poster carries the tag line ‘ASK – one conversation can save a life’.
‘Like most campaigns we hope it will make a difference and no matter what difficulties you are going through whether they be depression, financial or always otherwise the there hardestis alwaysanalwaysbut once another way,’ said Cllr Staples. ‘Our tag line on our posters is that one conversation can save a life and in my own experience and that of others the first conversation in you’ve had that conversation then you can get the help that you need.
‘Sometimes that conversation needs to be started by someone other that the person in trouble and that’s a big part of out campaign,’ he said.
The mayor said the posters are designed to encourage those who may be struggling or feeing down to ask for help while at the same time encouraging those who may be concerned about a friend, relative or colleague to simply ask that person if they are feeling OK or would like to talk.
The launch is the culmination of months of work by the Mayor, who himself suffers from depression, and a committee of friends and supporters to raise awareness of mental health throughout the county and to encourage more transparency and openness regarding depression and other factors affecting mental well-being.
The mayor said his own experiences had helped shape the campaign.
‘One conversation can save a life and from my own experience I’m pretty good at asking for help,’ he said, adding that it was vital for people to open up, to talk to other people.
‘If I talk to somebody who has mental health issues, it helps me as well.. it inspires me to keep going,’ he told this newspaper.
Cllr Staples related a couple of stories about mental health issues he had helped with in recent weeks and months.
One involved a woman who was suffering severe depression because she was in debt and could see no way of getting out of it.
He said he made some calls and the woman, a mother of three, was now paying off the debt in weekly instalments.
‘I met her a couple of weeks ago and she was a different person.. the depression had lifted. She said “thank God I talked to you, otherwise I don’t think I
would have been here”.’
‘She said she had spoken only to me about it and had not brought it up with her children because of the shame of it,’ he said, ‘ but she was able to come to me and ask.’
He said he had also helped about a man suffering from depression by getting him an early appointment with counselling service ‘It’s Good to Talk’.
‘About three months later I was at a petrol station when I saw this man looking at me.. I didn’t know him and he asked me if I was Frank Staples.. when I said I was he said “I owe you a debt of gratitude”. He was the man I had helped and it made me feel so much better and meant a lot,’ said Cllr Staples.
The launch included a talk by well-known Cavan goalkeeper Alan O’Mara, whose recent book ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ tackles the stigma of depression and tells Alan’s poignant and insightful story of how he struggled to find his way through the dark, before discovering that the only way out of the darkness was to ask for help. Cllr Staples and his committee are supported in their efforts by a wide range of Wexford-based bodies that have come on board to help launch the campaign. The models used for the posters are a mix of a woman from Dublin and local people. Supporting organisations include Wexford GAA, Wexford IFA, Wexford Vintners, Wexford Chamber of Commerce, FAI Wexford, IRFU Wexford, and Wexford’s Public Participation Network. The initiative also enjoys the support of the relevant statutory agencies including Wexford County Council and the HSE, while many local organisations who work in the area of mental well-being such as Good 2 Talk, Wexford Marinewatch, and Wexford Mental Health Association have also rowed in behind the initiative. Wexford’s newly-formed Junior County Council in also firmly supporting the campaign, with the young councillor representatives from Wexford’s six secondary schools using the power of social media. The mayor paid tribute to all those who made the launch a success and was fulsome in his praise for officials at Wexford County Council. ‘The county council have been brilliant,’ he said.