We addressed this on RTE TODAY 3/10/’17 with Daithi O’Se agus Maire Dirrane.
Though returning to work is generally hugely positive, we can experience:
In Ireland, men are four times more likely to take their own lives than Irish women. Irish men are most likely to die by suicide on Saturday night or Monday morning. Alcohol is involved in around 50% of Irish suicides. Midleton based counsellor, Tom Evans writes about suicide patterns and the part alcohol plays in many of these tragedies.
There are still issues in Irish society that are taboo – that we do not like to talk about, that we’d prefer to not admit are happening. Domestic violence is one such issue. It takes many forms; physical, emotional, mental, sexual, financial, elder, social, child, online. It’s predominantly perpetrated by men against women, but is also experienced against men. It is not gender specific and is not confined to heterosexual relationships. People of every age experience domestic abuse – from children to the elderly.
Loneliness – Isolation
We can be lonely in a crowded room. We can be lonely in our homes, even in a relationship – if we’re not fully able to be ourselves with somebody. A deeper more shattering loneliness is having nobody to talk to or nobody to meet. Isolation hits all ages and is not gender specific. Can be come about after bereavement, a job loss, after relationship breakdown, family moving on, arriving at older years, moving location etc. Loneliness can impact our mental and physical health.
There’s an expression that I hear occasionally that sets off alarm bells for me. It’s the statement: “that child is the best in the world and never gets angry”. Frankly I’m skeptical when I hear that.
Sometimes we shy away from making big changes in life, even-though we know deep down that things are not right – that we are just not happy. Now might be a good time to take another look at the big decisions facing you – as our willingness and openness to change can be high at certain times of year.
I find this kind of headline a bit grating. It’s sensationalist, scaremongering and it propagates the notion that the “predator” is the stranger, an unknown and probably “not from around here”. I’m not suggesting that anybody ignore the risk posed by this individual, but sadly, the truth is that children are at much greater risk from those they know and those who they are entrusted to, than the unknown stranger.
My little five and a half year old boy had his first brush with the grim reaper today. His favourite hen, Dotty, popped her clogs. He asked about her health problem and how she had seemingly recovered over the past few days, even laying eggs again. But she nose-dived yesterday evening and, by morning, had become a “past-tense-hen”, as the late Gerry Ryan might say.
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