{"id":342073,"date":"2025-12-30T03:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T03:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/342073\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T03:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T03:15:12","slug":"hse-urges-those-struggling-to-avail-of-free-mental-health-supports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/342073\/","title":{"rendered":"HSE urges those struggling to avail of free mental health supports\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The HSE in Cork and Kerry has urged people to remember that free mental health supports are available for anyone struggling this holiday season.<\/p>\n<p>Martin Ryan, resource officer for suicide prevention said help is there in many forms at all times, even over the holidays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cThis might be a challenging time and might bring up difficult emotions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cWe want to remind people that there is always someone available to talk to you, and you don\u2019t have to feel alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Many of these free services are open 24 hours a day, he added, with people on the other end of the phone ready to listen. &#8220;It takes strength to pick up the phone and ask for help, but remember that there is support available.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">He also advised people to pay extra attention to mental health at this time of year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">People can help themselves by eating healthy foods, taking exercise, and spending time with others as well, as cutting back on alcohol and making the effort to do fun activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cOur routines can be disrupted at this time of year, but it\u2019s important to maintain a balance,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cThings like good sleep and diet are the foundation of good mental health and wellbeing. In the midst of the busy season, remember to take some time to do something for you. Take half an hour, go for a walk, play a game, read a book, whatever you really enjoy. And 10 minutes of exercise, even a gentle walk, can make a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">HSE South West acknowledged the holidays can bring extra stresses and challenges ranging from emotional, financial, or personal, as well as loneliness for many.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">It urged people to consider contacting these support services this winter, especially anyone feeling overwhelmed or in distress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Meanwhile, the HSE also said that more 22,500 people have now signed up to the My Mental Health Plan can be accessed for free on the HSE website by anyone aged over 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu caption\">Mental health contacts<\/p>\n<p>                The Samaritans on 116 123 \u2014 samaritans.ie<br \/>\n                Pieta House on 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444 \u2014 see pieta.ie<br \/>\n                Childline on 1800 666 666 \u2014 see childline.ie<br \/>\n                Spunout.ie\u2019s Text About It service is available by texting \u2018hello\u2019 to 50808.<br \/>\n                Anyone in mental health distress should contact their GP during surgery hours, or for Cork and Kerry, the SouthDoc out-of-hours service on 0818 355 999. If someone is in immediate risk, contact the emergency services on 999 or 112.<br \/>\n                HSE website yourmentalhealth.ie has tips and can signpost you to various supports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The HSE in Cork and Kerry has urged people to remember that free mental health supports are available&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[107197,102,1906,6623,50,107198,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-342073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-court-and-crime","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-mentalhealth","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics-and-analysis","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}