CARMHA Nenagh launches fundraising campaign
CARMHA, a new Nenagh-based counselling and support service for people with addiction and mental health issues, launched their fundraising campaign recently.
The campaign started with a threeday event ‘Good CARMHA Weekend’, which took place from February 28th to March 3rd. The aim of the fundraising campaign is to raise some much-needed funds for the charity to get the service open to the public as soon as possible. Currently, the organisation does not receive governmental funding; it depends solely on donations from the public and is volunteer led. For the organisation to provide a professional and well-equipped service, they need
to raise in the region of €165,000 per annum.
The ‘Good Carmha Weekend’ kicked off to a full house at Nenagh Arts Centre with an educational awareness night on the work CARMHA is doing. The event highlighted the link between trauma, addiction and mental health issues, the need to treat addiction and mental health issues together, to provide compassionate and non-judgmental services, and to create personal connections.
The audience heard from experts in the mental health and addiction fields, Dr Sharon Lambert and Dr Liam MacGabhann, who spoke about the extent and correlation between mental health and addiction as they referred to research carried out locally in North Tipperary.
Local people who are associated with CARMHA bravely gave accounts of their own experiences of addiction and mental health issues from a personal and family member perspective.
The CARMHA Music Group, who have formed through their personal or family experience of addiction and mental health issues and their shared love of music, entertained the audience between the speakers.
Dawn Jones, who attended the event, said: “I found the evening to be really uplifting! “The evening was filled with hope and a real sense of change for the better”.
The ‘Good CARMHA Weekend’ continued on Saturday, March 2nd, with an open day in the CARMHA premises in Silver Street, Nenagh. Local tattoo artists Jonny Mitchell and Ronan Harvey donated their skills and gave people meaningful and empowering tattoos in support of CARMHA. Local musicians also entertained the crowd throughout the building all day.
The following Sunday was a day of relaxation, wellness and restoration in CARMHA. Local complementary therapists donated their time and skills to provide holistic treatments such as therapeutic massages, acupuncture, mindfulness and Qigong.
Antoinette Ryan, CARMHA Secretary, said: “The atmosphere around CARMHA over the Good CARMHA Weekend has been amazing! “Even in heartache, there can be joy and laughter. And support from the wider community gives CARMHA hope that they can achieve their goals and more people can learn to live again”.
The founding members of CARMHA, Donal Ryan (Addiction Counsellor/Psychotherapist) and Dr Marie Oppeboen (Consultant Psychiatrist) along with the CARMHA Board of Directors would like to sincerely thank all the many people who so generously supported the organisation and its mission throughout this weekend.
Dr Marie Oppeboen said of the events: “There are so many people who came together to make it a successful weekend. “Those who gave their time and skills to help organise and run the events; those who donated raffle prizes, refreshments, financial donations or attended the various activities throughout the weekend.
“Those who attended the events came from such a variety of backgrounds and services, including service users, family members, students, gardaí, solicitors, GPs, pharmacists, social workers, mental health and addiction professionals, homeless services and business people, to name but a few. It truly reflects the extent of
which addiction and mental health issues affect the entire community.”
“The events raised a total of €6,500 and will greatly contribute to CARMHA being able to open their doors,” said local solicitor and chairperson of CARMHA Liz McKeever. “However, running CARMHA is estimated to cost €165,000 in its first year, which will provide vital professional counselling, supports and drop-in services to
approximately 70 people with addiction and mental health issues as well as family members every week. As mainstream funding is difficult to secure for a charity that is new, CARMHA is entirely dependent on donations and fundraising events from the community in its initial stages.
"Now that we have officially launched our fundraising campaign, we would like to ask individuals, community groups, companies and corporate bodies to get behind us in any way they can. People could hold fundraising events for CARMHA, choose CARMHA as a charity when running a marathon or Facebook campaign, adopt CARMHA as their company’s charity of the year, develop a partnership with CARMHA, or sponsor a service or activity in the building.”
Marie added: “Any donations are welcome as we are passionate about making our service available as soon as possible, and we know they are desperately
needed.”
To learn more about CARMHA or sponsorship options, you can contact co-founders Marie or Donie on 0877722671, email them at carmha@outlook.ie, or follow CARMHA Ireland on Facebook or Twitter.