Donegal star Mark McHugh and Open Sea swimmer Anne Marie Ward will be among the special guests at this Thursday’s final leg of the Donegal Youth Council SPARKS Mental Health roadshow in Donegal Town.
Mark McHugh will be special guest.
The Donegal town leg of the “SPARKS” roadshow, which takes place in the Abbey Hotel, is an exciting new initiative in Donegal which has been running across the county over the last couple of months.
The roadshow, which kicked off in Letterkenny on World Mental Health will has visited Stranorlar, Gweedore, Buncrana in recent weeks.
Thursday’s event will work with 200 representatives from Abbey VS, Colaiste Colmcille, Magh Ene Bundoran, Colaiste Carraige and St Catherines from Killybegs.
The Donegal Youth Council is a group of 36 young people aged 12-18 years, who identify issues and promote projects to improve the lives of young people in Donegal.
Like the County Council they are selected from five electoral areas and represent the young people in their local areas.
The roadshow offers information and advice on how to manage stress in your life during exam times and other difficult situations and how to be more aware of what supports you have around you and how you can be a support to others.
The event has a strong focus on fun with a range of inspirational speakers, workshops and other activities, with a few surprises along the way.
The roadshow has been developed using the model of the Mental Health 5 a day, which is internationally now recognised as 5 key areas you can focus on which can have a big effect on your health and wellbeing.
The event will have input from a range of organisations, including Jigsaw, Donegal Youth Service, HSE Health Promotion, Foroige and Mental Health Ireland, with other guest speakers from the wider community who have each conquered their own personal challenges in life, such as Cycle Against Suicide Ambassador Orla O’Reilly.
The Donegal Youth Council is funded by the Donegal County Council, HSE Health Promotion and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and is co-ordinated at local level by the Donegal Youth Service.
The SPARKS roadshow will kick off in the Abbey Hotel at 10am and runs until 3pm.