The HSE and the GAA continue to crack down on stress!

The HSE and the GAA continue to crack down on stress!

HSE Primary Care Psychology Services, Youghal GAA and Youghal Family Centre have joined forced to combat stress in Youghal. This joint initiative which is part of the award winning GAA / HSE Cork Beats Stress Project will ensure the delivery of a free morning course called ‘Stress Control’ designed to teach participants the skills to tackle stress effectively. This course will run for six consecutive Tuesday mornings starting on February 3rd 2015 from 10.15 am – 11.45 am in Youghal GAA.

Jennifer Hayes, Principal Psychologist, Primary Care Cork North points out that stress is a normal part of life with virtually everybody being affected at some point in their lives. “It is only a matter of time before life throws a curve ball and when stress levels rise or get out of control. It feels rotten and can badly affect every aspect of a person’s life. This course is free and is open to everybody who is currently experiencing stress or interested in learning how to manage stress better and therefore improve their quality of life”.

Christy Cooney, former President of the GAA and member of Youghal GAA said “Youghal GAA wants to get the word out to the people of Youghal that this course is available, free and open to everybody whether they are GAA members or not. Life is never easy and people face all sorts of challenges such as financial problems, stress at work, day to day hassles, the usual pressures facing families, illness, exams, immigration or whatever. This course is designed to teach people practical skills that they can use to reduce the stress that these or other life challenges generate”.

The Cork Beats Stress initiative with its delivery of the Stress Control programme was piloted last year in Midleton GAA and St. Finbarr’s GAA clubs. The uptake was enormous with a total of 328 people doing the 6 week course across the two sites. The course was evaluated and shown to get excellent results. The research on the project showed that it taught people effective skills and that this resulted in a significant decrease in levels of stress. Such was the success of this initiative that it was the overall joint National Winner of the prestigious Health Management Institute Awards in 2014

Nicola Lucey of Youghal Family Centre said ‘we are delighted to bring the Cork Beats Stress project to Youghal. It has received the backing of a large number of community groups, local businesses, the schools and the public in general. There was never a greater need for a practical course such as this’.

This course will run for six consecutive Tuesday mornings. The classes are very easy to follow and all participants are given booklets with explanations on how to control stress at the end of each class so that people can read them at their own pace. Participants will not be asked to talk about their problems or asked any personal questions. It is lecture format and as such people are not engaged in any discussion of their personal circumstances. The course is open to anyone over the age of 18 from all walks of life. You do not have to be a GAA member to attend. Partners and friends of people experiencing stress are also welcome as long as they register in advance.

If you have any queries or if you would like to register for a place at one of these venues please book your place by emailing

CorkBeatsStress@hse.ie

Or by calling Claire on 086 7871016

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