SUICIDE and self-harm service Pieta House have received a donation of almost €2,500, which was raised by UL Hospitals staff.
The donation was made after 200 people, predominantly UL Hospitals staff, participated in the ‘From Couch to 5k’ run/walk around Dooradoyle and Raheen last August. It was one of a series of initiatives to promote health and wellness among UL Hospitals staff.
The donation will now go towards helping people at risk of suicide and self-harm in the Mid-West.
Kieran O’Brien of Pieta House said that the donation would help three or four people and could even help save their lives.
“It will be spent locally to help our service users from the initial assessment to the talk therapy with our qualified psychotherapists. That could be twice a week for ten weeks or, if they are really in a crisis, four or five times a week,” he said.
“But what is equally important is the awareness hospital staff have created around Pieta House and we are extremely grateful for that. We work with a lot of people who have attempted suicide, people with suicide ideation and people who engage in self-harm.
“We’ll be open five years in Mungret very soon and it’s great to create awareness that we are very close by.” In those five years, Pieta House has helped more than 6,500 people in Limerick.
