Entrepreneur and mental health activist, Jim Breen, was in Mullingar last Friday to give a motivational talk to the students of Loreto College, who will be hosting the second last stage of the 2015 Cycle Against Suicide in the coming months.
With the tagline ‘It’s OK not to feel OK; and it’s absolutely OK to ask for help’ the cycle commences in Belfast on Monday, 27 April, travelling over 1,400 kilometres around Ireland until it reaches Dublin two weeks later on Sunday, 10 May.
Loreto College will be one of 28 anchor schools taking part, and will welcome over 1,000 cyclists to the school’s grounds on Saturday, 9 May as Mullingar hosts the overnight stop that evening.
The school, together with Cycle Against Suicide, will organise a mental health event comprising of presentations, videos, music, celebrity speakers and an exhibition of local mental health services the following morning, Sunday, 10 May, before the cycle makes its to Enfield, Co. Meath before arriving in Dublin that evening.
Marese Bell, principal of Loreto College, Mullingar, said: “Our school is delighted to host this important event and welcome the cyclists to Mullingar. The impact of this type of activity is powerful and far reaching, not just in our schools, but also in the community at large. It gets the conversation around mental health going in the community and shows the support services that are available to those that need them.”
“Promoting positive mental health practices in our school and the community is an important task to Loreto College, Mullingar. By becoming an anchor school and partnering with Cycle Against Suicide, we can continue to raise awareness of the issues around mental health and suicide. It’s about encouraging people to know it’s absolutely OK to ask for help.”
Cycle Against Suicide founder, Jim Breen, said: “This is the third year of the Cycle Against Suicide and we’re blown away with the phenomenal response from the schools involved in the Cycle,” said Jim, who rose to fame after his heart-warming appearance on the Secret Millionaire in 2012.
