![\"Daragh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5071113_7_articleinline_DARAGH_20FLEMING_20_20_28.jpg\" "\\"Daragh")
Daragh Fleming on Sandymount Beach, Dublin Picture: Gareth Chaney<\/p>\nCork writer and poet Daragh Fleming was 17 when his best friend died by suicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt profoundly affected me and changed my entire life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
His work \u2014 writing and mental-health activism \u2014 is about inspiring conversation and \u201ctrying to prevent as many suicides as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs someone who was bereaved by suicide, I knew the impact it can have on people who are left behind, and also how often people struggle in silence,\u201d says the 31-year-old.<\/p>\n
Fleming is an ambassador for Electric Ireland\u2019s Share a Walk series, which aligns with the Pieta House Darkness into Light suicide-prevention campaign on May 9.<\/p>\n
Fleming says: \u201cI\u2019d done the Darkness into Light walks for a good few years, and this year I came on board as an ambassador for Electric Ireland and its new programme, called Share a Walk. I really love the idea. It\u2019s so simple, but when you invite friends and family to share a walk, that\u2019s often when we have important, and sometimes essential, conversations. We\u2019re walking alongside each other. I think it gives us that space to talk, and to vent, and to get things off our chest.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the \u201cside-by-side element\u201d that breaks down the mental barriers to talking about emotions and feelings.<\/p>\n
Fleming says: \u201cYou can say how you\u2019re feeling, and you don\u2019t have to take on the pressure of being looked at. Most of the conversations I\u2019ve had where something profound or deep has come out have been on a walk, during a run with one of my friends, or in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
When his friend died, Fleming didn\u2019t immediately understand how he felt. \u201cThere\u2019s an aspect of not knowing what you\u2019re feeling, and probably a bigger part, especially among men, is knowing you\u2019re feeling some way, but denying yourself the permission to feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until two years later, when Fleming was studying applied psychology at University College Cork (UCC), that he read about depression and realised the text described what he was experiencing.<\/p>\n
Buoyed by the insight, he felt he could now verbalise his feelings. UCC offered free counselling to students, so he signed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe therapy absolutely helped, but what was most interesting was when I made the decision to sign up for counselling, I told my family about what had been going on with me, and suddenly it was all out in the open. I didn\u2019t have to pretend or hide anymore. That gave me such a sense of relief, because I was like, \u2018Right, I\u2019m not OK, but at least I have taken the steps to get better\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside the counselling, Fleming began journalling and writing poetry. This act of writing things down took the thoughts out of his head and onto paper.<\/p>\n
Expressing how he was feeling to friends and family, and to himself, allowed Fleming to move forward. \u201cIt took a lot of weight off. For me, my shoulders just dropped, and I thought I can finally stop holding on to this and let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the rise of the so-called manosphere, it is arguably a difficult time to be a man who expresses his emotions. But Fleming points to \u201ctrailblazers\u201d like Niall Breslin (Bressie) and Blindboy, who use their platforms to discuss mental health and the power of being open with your emotions.<\/p>\n
We need to include Fleming among these trailblazers. His viral poem, If I Ever Have Boys, is a powerful reminder that vulnerability is strength, particularly among men, who may struggle to express their emotions. It\u2019s an important message; in Ireland, men account for 75% of deaths by suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cMen are socialised not to engage in emotion, and there\u2019s this conditioned silence; we\u2019re not meant to speak up, whether it\u2019s about ourselves or about other people,\u201d says Fleming.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmotions do come up for men. But they\u2019re rejected, because they\u2019re not part of the parameters that we grew up with of what it means to be a man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Small gestures can make a difference in helping a friend or a family member to open up, Fleming says. \u201cIt can start among your own friends. It can start with, \u2018Hey, man, you\u2019ve been quiet lately. Is there anything going on?\u2019 Conversations like this change things. If there\u2019s one man in every group of men doing that work, that will change a lot, because every group will have this voice of like, \u2018Oh, yeah, maybe we should talk about these things\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being the one to share first is often a good starting point, says Fleming. \u201cIf I\u2019m out with a friend for a walk, and it\u2019s a friend that I\u2019m thinking might be going through something, I always share first. I might say, \u2018I wasn\u2019t in good form this week, or I couldn\u2019t sleep\u2019 and I\u2019m telling them these things to signal that, \u2018Hey, we can talk about these things\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daragh Fleming on Sandymount Beach, Dublin Picture: Gareth Chaney<\/p>\n
Around 500 people die by suicide in Ireland every year. \u201cBehind every one of those deaths there are families, friends, colleagues, classmates, and whole communities affected,\u201d says Emma Dolan, Pieta\u2019s director of clinical services.<\/p>\n
Each year, more than 6,000 people receive support through Pieta House therapy services.<\/p>\n
The non-profit provides 40,000 hours of free therapy, and its 24\/7 Crisis Helpline receives more than 100,000 calls and texts.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think it\u2019s really important to say that those aren\u2019t just statistics,\u201d says Dolan. \u201cEvery call, every text, and every therapy session is a person who has taken a really brave step and reached out.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, people come to us feeling completely overwhelmed, or frightened, or ashamed of what they\u2019re feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur role is to meet them with compassion, without judgement, and to help them stay safe and find a way through that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darkness Into Light is Pieta House\u2019s biggest annual fundraiser. \u201cIt helps keep our services free for the people who need them,\u201d says Dolan.<\/p>\n
Last year, around 80,000 people took part across almost 200 walks in 12 counties.<\/p>\n
Early Saturday morning, at 4.15am, Fleming will take part in the Darkness Into Light walk in Phoenix Park, Dublin. \u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to it,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
In 2025, Darkness Into Light raised around \u20ac4m. Dolan says: \u201cThat money helps fund very real support: \u20ac12 can fund a call to Pieta\u2019s 24-hour crisis helpline, \u20ac45 can help provide a crisis counselling session, and \u20ac100 can cover a first therapy session with a Pieta professional.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people register, donate, volunteer, and take part, they are helping Pieta be there for someone who may need us, not just on the morning of the walk, but every day and night of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork writer and poet Daragh Fleming was 17 when his best friend died by suicide.\u00a0 \u201cIt profoundly affected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5658,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-438672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-irish-examiner-instagram","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}