It’s hard to believe it’s only three weeks since we launched the Don’t Drop the Ball on Mental Health campaign. It’s been a busy few weeks, and the support for the campaign has been fantastic. So, with three weeks down and 6 weeks to go, we thought we’d take stock of how it has all been going…
We were joined for the launch by Alan Quinlan, Munster and Ireland rugby legend. He was even gracious enough to climb inside a 2 metre high ball, for the sake of promoting the campaign – good man, Alan! Since launch day, it has been a hectic roadshow of petition days nationwide: bustling visits to Athlone IT and GMIT, the rain showers of Galway at a lively NUIG, a warm welcome in a chilly NCAD, and successful visits to UCD, DCU, and NUI Maynooth.
We’ve also been doing the rounds of shopping centres, asking people to sign the petition and support the mental health budget. So far, we’ve been to centres in Athlone and Limerick, with more visits planned for the next 6 weeks. Find out here where we will be.
Highlights so far: our amazing volunteers in Athlone IT; a great welcome from GMIT Student Union; our NUI Galway volunteer who started getting petition signatures hours before we arrived on campus, and had filled sheets and sheets on her own; our Spiderman mental health superhero who helped get signatures in Maynooth; free tea from the chaplain in DCU; the supermarket cashier in Limerick, who got all of her fellow cashiers to sign up; the free sweets we got from a shopkeeper in Limerick (kudos to Limerickians, again!) because he felt sorry for us sitting in a drafty entrance; but most of all, the response from the general public, many of whom have been touched by mental health difficulties themselves or in their families – thank you all for your support. We couldn’t do it without you.
6 more weeks… let’s keep on spreading the word. Share the link https://mentalhealthreform.ie/petition2012.php on Facebook or tweet the short link bit.ly/ShzNpy along with the hashtag #dontdroptheball.
