Campaigning Kirsty is on a mission to organise two men\u2019s retreats and offer 300 free acu seed treatments to help men affected by suicide, addiction, or emotional pain\n<\/p>\n
Campaigning Kirsty is on a mission to organise two men\u2019s retreats and offer 300 free acu seed treatments to help men affected by suicide, addiction, or emotional pain.<\/p>\n
The tiny metal seeds are placed on acupressure points on the ears for up to five days and can relieve stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n
The freelance model, who\u2019s worked on campaigns for brands like Boots and Specsavers, has used them on herself after years of struggling with a chronic abdominal pain condition.<\/p>\n
Now she\u2019s using her own experience to set up the Men\u2019s Mental Health Coach, offering help to men in turmoil with the ear seeds, breathing techniques, meditation, and positive affirmations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kirsty Smiley administering her acu seeds<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve dealt with my own mental health due to suffering chronic pain, and I\u2019ve sat in a lot of these men\u2019s chairs after going through childhood trauma and abuse,\u201d says Kirsty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to be a drug taker and I\u2019ve had to pull myself out of that life, and now I believe I\u2019ve been set on a path to help men.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a chance remark about suicide during a holiday in Turkey which sparked the idea for retreats and gentle support.<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland\u2019s suicide rate is higher than in England and Wales, and a report last year on statistics for 2023 revealed an 8 per cent increase on the previous year, and that three quarters of suicide deaths were male.<\/p>\n
\u201cA man in Turkey said to me \u2018where you live there is a pandemic for people committing suicide, and it\u2019s a lot of men\u2019. That was someone on the other side of the world talking about Northern Ireland,\u201d says Kirsty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was one of the things that led to me doing this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a counsellor, and the only part of the men who come to me that I touch is their ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them are big hard men and all they want is some feminine energy to be kind to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old, mum to daughter Ruby Mae, 12, has already helped men who have lost everything, including their children, because of addiction, and people who are struggling after losing friends to suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them have been in jail. Some of them haven\u2019t been through the NHS because they\u2019re going to be given tablets and that\u2019s not what they want,\u201d says Kirsty, from north Belfast.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The tiny metal seeds are placed on acupressure points on the ears for up to five days and can relieve stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them are completely lost after losing someone to suicide and it\u2019s taking them a long time to be able to process it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey blame themselves and feel they could have done something to prevent it. They are riddled with guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says the ear seeds are a non-invasive treatment, based on the principles of ancient Chinese acupuncture, using the ear as a map of the body.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can put them in place for stress, anxiety, fatigue, wherever they feel it\u2019s required.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrap the men in a blanket and help them to calm with breathing techniques and meditation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve opened a GoFundMe page because I don\u2019t believe the men should have to pay to get help, and I want to organise two retreats with massage from male masseuses and a male speaker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirsty says she\u2019s already had positive feedback from clients who have shared their thoughts on her Men\u2019s Mental Health Coach Facebook page.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have taken the first steps to making themselves feel better by coming to me, and I\u2019m here to help them save themselves,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kirsty Smiley<\/p>\n
News in 90 Seconds – Tuesday, August 5th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigning Kirsty is on a mission to organise two men\u2019s retreats and offer 300 free acu seed treatments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-48005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}