People visiting Cork mental health cafe 'often coming from trauma or bereavement'

Éadaoin Berkeley, a service user at the Solace Café, said the service has provided her a lifeline. Picture: Chani Anderson

A Cork woman who has gained “internal peace”, despite her mental health challenges, from a new cafe-style out-of-hours crisis service says a more open discussion on mental distress is needed.

Gaps in mental health services at evenings and weekends have been of growing concern among patients and practitioners, with the Mental Health Commission calling for “urgent attention” earlier this year.

The Solace Cafe is just minutes from Cork city centre, with colourful sofas and large tables so people can chat with trained staff or volunteers in a casual setting. There is plenty of tea, coffee, and biscuits available between 6pm and 10.30pm Thursdays to Sundays.

It is part of a planned national network, with three such cafes already open and another to open in Waterford next month and one in Limerick later this autumn.

Éadaoin Berkeley, from Cork City, was diagnosed with psychosis as a 23-year-old student, saying: “This was the first time I came across the word anxiety, I didn’t even know it was a thing then.” 

She faced other mental health challenges, and was recently also diagnosed with Huntington’s disease — a genetic progressive neurodegenerative condition.

“That would be somewhat connected to the mental health challenges I had earlier, but I would also say that a lot of the mental health challenges that I experienced are rooted in trauma, so it’s hard to define where one begins and one ends,” she told the Irish Examiner.

A key issue for Éadaoin has been the shortage of out-of-hours mental health support.

The mature student praised her “very good” HSE psychiatrist, but said Solace had also provided a lifeline.

 “I was aware the Solace cafe is a weekend service, there was out of hours but it was also peer support — the people working and volunteering here tend to be people with lived experience of mental distress to a degree.” 

Éadaoin says the importance of Solace is that “there is continuity over the weekend when other services aren’t running”. 

She was already in the psychiatric system when she started going there about 18 months ago. “I never looked back,” she said.

The Solace Cafe is just minutes from Cork city centre, with colourful sofas and large tables so people can chat with trained staff or volunteers in a casual setting. Picture: Chani Anderson

During what she calls a "bad week", she might go four nights and might go only once or not at all when she feels well.

I feel an internal sense of peace these days and I am grateful to everyone who has helped me

“The Solace Cafe is there to support us when we need it. It's in our community. It's fantastic to have it," she added.

Ms Berkeley, now 38, is finishing an MA in youth arts and sports education at University College Cork. 

Feeling stable and supported is vital for her to continue her studies uninterrupted, which has not always been the case.

She sees these cafe appointments as part of a network anyone with challenges needs. For her, the Cork Mental Health Foundation, HSE teams, and Huntington’s Ireland association each offer different supports.

“Despite all the setbacks and diagnosis, I recognise that I am doing really well,” she said.

“I would like to try to instil hope in people experiencing similar challenges. I live a very full life. I've lots of great friends, family, and other supports. I love socialising. I feel privileged to have so many opportunities and living the life I'm happy with.”

She called on people to consider this approach, saying it is time to “to try to open up discussions about mental distress”.

“It’s so transformative, because it’s a new approach. It’s about tackling some of the stigma behind mental health.” 

The CEO of Cork Mental Health Foundation, Brendan McCarthy, said that when people are in crisis, they feel most isolated at the weekends. Picture: Chani Anderson

The CEO of Cork Mental Health Foundation, Brendan McCarthy, explained how the group provides staff, premises, and runs the service with HSE funding. It runs many other projects including housing help for people with mental illnesses.

“We would have noticed the gap in out-of-hours services,” he said.

“Lots of our residents who live in our houses attend A&E at the weekends because of the nature of their difficulty.

The only place they would feel they can go at that time is the A&E, so we were aware of the gap in the services and this initiative could fill that gap

He added: “Generally, when people are in crisis it is the evening times and it is the night-time, and especially at the weekends, is when they feel most isolated.” 

Operations manager Breda Richardson said they can help people find low-cost counselling or other help as well as providing “a safe space” to chat.

They are also linked in with Cork University Hospital and the Mercy University Hospital.

“It’s very individually based,” she said, saying they do a phone triage before confirming appointments.

“Often people ring and they say social isolation or anxiety, but when they come in it might be something coming from trauma or they recently had a bereavement. So much comes up when they’re here.” 

They had 153 service users — evenly split between men and women — with 1,866 contacts between July 2023 and last month. Numbers are rising with 128 people going in May.

“We are starting to get more referrals from GPs,” she said.

“The hospitals are suggesting us as a support on discharge, prison services are suggesting us as a support on re-integration.” 

The HSE said these cafes are “still pilot/ learning sites at present” with the aim of helping them shape how other cafes or centres could be built. Information was not available on how long the pilots will run.

Operations manager Breda Richardson said they can help people find low-cost counselling or other help as well as providing “a safe space” to chat. Picture: Chani Anderson

There are two others open — in Sligo and Ranelagh, Dublin. Next month, another opens in Limerick City with one opening in Waterford later this autumn.

“The Solace Cafe service supports individuals and their family members/carers to deal with an immediate crisis and to plan safely drawing on their strengths, resilience, and coping mechanisms to manage their mental health and well-being,” a HSE spokeswoman said.

“Solace Cafes accept self-referrals and referrals from healthcare practitioners, NGOs, and community partner agencies.” 

Relatives or carers of people with mental illness can also attend.

Worrying gaps in mental health services were recently identified in the Irish Examiner Women's Health Survey 2025.

Almost two in every five women have visited a healthcare professional about mental health in recent years. Among women who sought help, 30% said access to a professional was either poor or very poor in their experience.

Only 13% said this was very good, and 27% said this was good. More than one in 10 of the 1,078 women who took part said they often feel lonely or isolated.

The HSE’s focus on out of hours help also comes after the Mental Health Commission called for reforms of crisis help in hospital emergency departments.

It recommended community mental health teams be better supported as part of this change. These should offer “more acute unscheduled local mental health care, with earlier intervention a priority”, the commission said.