Men to have more access to free counselling through 'Men Connect' project 

Minister of state for mental health Mary Butler also announced a new partnership with Community Therapy Ireland (CTI) to deliver 9,000 free counselling sessions to a range of groups. File picture

Men will have more access to free counselling under new mental health funding announced on Monday, with separate new support for groups including young people.

The new men’s supports are an expansion of a programme launched last September, which has already seen over 5,200 men attend free sessions. These are run in partnership with the network of family resources centres.

The programme hopes to better support men aged 30 to 50 because they are seen as the age group most at risk of considering suicide. This expansion is through a pilot programme for Waterford as well as Sligo and Monaghan.

The new ‘Men Connect’ project will offer dedicated outreach, mental health promotion, and counselling services. Each of the three pilot sites is to get €40,000 for the remainder of this year and €80,000 in a full year. This includes St Brigid's Family and Community Centre in Waterford.

The existing free programme offers face-to-face appointments as well as online care and seven-day-a-week telephone support.

The latter is delivered with Connect Counselling and the overall programme includes more access to the HSE’s national counselling service.

Specialist support is available for Defence Forces veterans and members of the Traveller community through Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann and Exchange House.

Among the men attending so far, 4,810 were referred on for more counselling in primary care services and 460 referred to the HSE MyMind service.

Minister of state for mental health Mary Butler welcomed the high interest levels.

“More than 5,200 men have already come forward to access support, many of them for the first time. This demonstrates the importance of providing services that are accessible, stigma-free and responsive to people’s needs,” she said.

She described how about 80% of deaths by suicide in Ireland are among men. 

She said working through family resource centres makes the sessions more accessible, saying they "are at the heart of nearly every community in Ireland”.

Men can access these supports by speaking to their GP or online. 

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Ms Butler also announced a new partnership with Community Therapy Ireland (CTI) to deliver 9,000 free counselling sessions to a range of groups.

This will target new clients, especially young people and members of the LGBTQ+ communities.

“We know that early access to counselling can make a real difference to people’s lives, helping them to address challenges before they reach crisis point,” she said.

Over two budgets, funding of €5m has been secured, she added, with this covering 39,000 extra hours.

CTI represents 29 counselling and psychotherapy organisations.

Groups allocated money for this year from the €1m fund include the Cork Counselling Service, Kerry Adolescent Counselling Service and Limerick Youth Service.

Support is also given to St Brigid's Family and Community Centre in Waterford, Croom Family Resource Centre, Limerick Social Service Council Counselling Service and the Knockanrawley Resource Centre in Tipperary.