ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC have announced a new partnership with mental health charity Pieta House, which will see the charity’s logo feature on the team’s home and away jerseys for the remainder of the season.
The new partnership will also see Pieta House provide counselling and lifestyle workshops to all the club’s sides at U15, U17 and U19 level.
St Pat’s manager Liam Buckley said the partnership would help young players developing at the club.
“Everyone knows the great work that Pieta House do in raising awareness around talking about mental health, so to have their staff work with our underage teams is a real boost to our up and coming stars.”
Chairman Garrett Kelleher said he hoped the club could help further promote the work which Pieta House conducts throughout Ireland with the new partnership.
“All at St Patrick’s Athletic hope that this partnership between Pieta House and ourselves will serve to further the tremendous work Pieta House does in both our local community and nationally.”
Pieta House opened over a decade ago and since has helped over 20,000 people thanks to its free counselling services for people in suicidal distress or engaging in self-harm.
As well as its original centre opened in Lucan, eight subsequent centres, three in the greater Dublin area and five further centres to cater for the rest of the country in Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Galway and Kerry have all been opened.
Pieta House staff are fully qualified and provide “a professional one-to-one therapeutic service for people who are experiencing suicidal distress, people who have attempted suicide and people who are engaging in self-harm.”
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Pieta House CEO Brian J. Higgins said the link-up with St Pat’s showcased the importance of male role models like footballers to promote positive mental health.
“Partnerships of this kind are essential to raise awareness of suicide and self-harm in our communities, and to make our vision – a world where suicide, self-harm, and stigma have been replaced by hope, self-care and acceptance – a reality”, he said.
“It is so important to have male role models promoting wellness – physical, mental, and emotional – and challenging accepted masculine norms that place so much pressure on our men.
“In football, teamwork is everything, and the strength of the team is in its support of each individual.
“These jerseys illustrate how that support carries on off the pitch, and have the potential to bring some very important conversations out into the open.”
If you need to talk, you can contact Pieta House at 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444.
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