Can you spare 15 minutes for mental health?

By Bishop Pat Storey

On World Mental Health Day last October, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev John McDowell, launched MindMatters COI, the Church’s new mental health promotion initiative.  Wellness in body, mind and spirit is something that our Church wishes to promote and our faith deeply desires.

We have been working hard, gathering a lot of information, developing a website and establishing an advisory group of experts to guide the project.  I am pleased to let you know that we’re now starting to collect information on awareness and attitudes towards mental health within the Church, and we need your help.  Gathering your thoughts on mental health awareness and understanding is a key phase of the project as the results will inform and shape everything else we do.

Therefore, I would really appreciate if you would visit our website – https://mindmatters.ireland.anglican.org – and complete a short survey. It will only take about 15 minutes to complete, and the information you share will be anonymous and confidential.  We will also be running a number of online focus groups, and if you would like to join one of these, please let us know by emailing: mhp@rcbdub.org

If you don’t have internet access but would still like to participate, please call + 353 (0) 1 4125 660 and leave your name and address. We will post you out a copy of the survey with a stamped addressed envelope, to return directly to the project manager, and will also provide details of the focus groups should you wish to participate in them.

The success of this initiative depends on your participation, so I would really like to encourage you to contribute and also tell your friends, relatives and fellow parishioners about this opportunity to take part and help us to respond best to the mental health needs in the Church and wider community. Updates on the project will be available on our website so do visit it regularly. Thank you in advance.

Bishop Pat Storey chairs the Project Team and Advisory Group for MindMatters COI.
This article was first published in the May 2021 edition of the Church of Ireland Gazette, an all–island magazine serving the Church.