Cork Beats Stress

The ‘Cork Beats Stress’ (Stress Control) programme delivered in partnership by the HSE South and the GAA was awarded joint first place by Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar at the prestigious Health Management Institute Leaders Award recently.

The ‘Cork Beats Stress Programme’ was rolled out by the HSE Primary Care Psychology in conjunction with Midleton GAA and St Finbarr’s GAA clubs in Midleton and Togher, Cork.

“Stress Control”, a six week course, was delivered by HSE Primary Care Psychologists in Midleton and Togher to over 300 participants. The lectures centred on providing important information about stress, how it effects people and on teaching the skills people need to gain control over stress when it becomes a problem in their lives.

Delivering the program through the GAA had the effect of making the service more accessible to people who may not have otherwise availed of help to address the stress in their lives. It also led people to replace previously held negative connotations associated with mental health services, which can be a barrier to accessing needed supports, with positive associations which are more conducive to accessing supports and enhancing positive mental health. While some of these outcomes can be attributed to the course and course structure, others are associated with delivering a service through the GAA.

Dr. Jennifer Hayes, Principal Clinical Psychologist, HSE South, who came up with the idea of delivering a public health initiative such as this through the GAA, reported that the course was an enormous success. She added “Our research on this project showed that people who attended these courses learned about problematic stress and got the necessary skills to control it. Coming to the course resulted in significant decreases in reported levels of anxiety, depression and stress and significant improvements in quality of life. These results are difficult to achieve in a HSE setting and are hugely important because they point us in the direction of the development of effective and accessible services delivered in the heart of our communities”.