End the Silence 2023

‘End the Silence’ was a series of events that took place from October 24-26, 2023, to raise awareness of the issues arising from growing up with alcohol harm in the home.

‘End the Silence’ forms part of Alcohol Action Ireland’s initiative, ‘Silent Voices’, which seeks to raise awareness and put forward policy solutions to address these issues. This year our focus is on children’s mental health.

Joining The Dots

The first of our 2023 events was called ‘Joining The Dots’. Chaired by Ombudsman for Children Niall Muldoon and featuring Prof Trevor Spratt (TCD), Dr Cian Aherne (Jigsaw), Christa McCutcheon (Maynooth University), and Fiona Coyle (CEO of Mental Health Reform), ‘Joining The Dots’ looked at how childhood adversity impacts mental health and what we can do to support young people.

 

Triple Trauma In The Home

Our second event, titled ‘Triple Trauma In The Home’, was an in-person gathering in Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, which discussed how children are impacted when domestic violence, mental health and problem alcohol use co-occur in the home. This event was chaired by Ailbhe Smyth and featured contributions from Sarah Morton (Director of the Community Drugs Programme, School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, UCD), Rachel Fayne (DAVINA project), Senator Frances Black (RISE) and Sarah Rush (Barnardos).

Invisible Victims

The third and final event of our 2023 ‘End The Silence’ campaign was a webinar called ‘Invisible Victims’ and featured contributions from Dr Judith Butler (MUT), Dr Cassey Muir (Newcastle University) and Dr Justina Murray (CEO of Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs). This event dealt with the issues surrounding listening to the voices of children growing up with Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Alcohol Action Ireland strive for the burden of alcohol harm to be lifted from the individual, community and State, and we hope our ‘End The Silence’ initiative helps raise awareness of the long-lasting harm caused to children by parental problem alcohol use.

For more information visit Silent Voices