Join us at Facing ‘The Fear’: Alcohol and Mental Health in Ireland to hear expert speakers discuss how alcohol is impacting on mental health in Ireland.
Minister Alex White, Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for primary care, will open Alcohol Action Ireland’s 2013 conference, which takes place on Wednesday, November 20, at the Royal College of Physicians, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, from 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Expert speakers will discuss alcohol’s strong links to a range of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide. Please follow this link to register for Facing ‘The Fear’: Alcohol and Mental Health in Ireland.
There will also be a panel discussion, focusing on the role of alcohol in suicide, particularly its impact on young people. Conference attendees will also hear from people who will share their own personal experiences of alcohol and the impact it has had on them and their loved ones, including John Higgins, a Mayo father whose 19-year-old son died by suicide in 2011. Limerick priest, Fr Pat Seaver, will speak about his experiences supporting families who have been bereaved by suicide. He recently voiced his concern about the role of alcohol in these tragedies.
The programme for the day is [wpfilebase tag=fileurl id=187 linktext=’available here’ /] and is summarised as follows:
9 am Registration
9.30 am Opening of conference by Alex White TD, Minister of State for Primary Care
9.45 am Dr Bobby Smyth will speak about current trends in alcohol consumption among young people in Ireland and the impact drinking is having on their mental health. Dr Smyth is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with the HSE, Senior Clinical Lecturer with the Department of Public Health & Primary Care in Trinity College Dublin, and a board member of Alcohol Action Ireland.
10.15 am Prof Ella Arensman will speak about the impact of alcohol on self-harm and suicide in Ireland, providing new insights from recently collected data. Prof Arensman is Director of Research with the National Suicide Research Foundation and Adjunct Professor with the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College Cork.
10.45 am Dr Conor Farren will address the relationship between alcohol and mental health issues, including depression, in Ireland. Dr Farren is a Consultant Psychiatrist at St Patrick’s University Hospital and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin.
11.15 am Coffee
11.45 am Dr Philip McGarry will examine alchool’s impact on mental health in Northern Ireland. Dr McGarry is a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital in Belfast and was Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Norther Ireland from 2009 to 2013.
12.15 pm Q&A with Speakers Panel
1 pm Lunch
2 pm Alcohol : The Human Cost A conversation piece on the role of alcohol in suicide, particularly its impact on young people, featuring Dr Claire Hayes, a Clinical Psychologist, Educational Psychologist and Clinical Director of Aware, Ireland’s depression support charity; John Higgins, a Mayo father whose 19-year-old son, David, died by suicide in 2011, and Fr Pat Seaver, a Limerick priest who has supported families who have been bereaved by suicide and, like Mr Higgins, has voiced his concerns about the role of alcohol in these tragedies.
3 pm Q&A with Speakers Panel
4 pm Close
Facing ‘The Fear’: Alcohol and Mental Health in Ireland will be chaired by journalist, author and broadcaster Brian O’Connell, reporter on Today with Sean O Rourke on RTE Radio 1 and author of Wasted: A Sober Journey Through Drunken Ireland.
Announcing the outline conference programme, Alcohol Action Ireland’s CEO, Suzanne Costello, said: “’The fear’ is a genuine experience for people suffering from the effects of alcohol misuse, and it is a manifestation of the negative impacts which alcohol can have on the mental health of people. This conference provides an opportunity to examine the extent which alcohol has on people’s mental health in Ireland.
“Even against a backdrop of growing discussion and openness on the subject of mental health in Ireland, there has been a very limited discourse on the role which alcohol can have in terms of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide.”
The cost of attending this conference is €25, including light refreshments and lunch. There is a discount for students/researchers/unwaged. Please follow this link to register for Facing ‘The Fear’: Alcohol and Mental Health in Ireland
For enquiries regarding the conference please email admin@alcoholactionireland.ie or call us on 01-8780610.
This conference is part-funded by the National Office of Suicide Prevention
