cycle against suicide 2016

Solobally8

Call me cynical or maybe I'm just slow but I don't understand what the point is. How's about giving the money raised to charities like Pieta house who actually work with people who need help? I suffer from depression, have been suicidal on more than one occasion and I work with vulnerable teenagers. I don't get how a group of people paying €50 to cycle in orange telling us it's ok not to feel ok makes any difference. Less stigma is fantastic but when a young boy is in the depths of despair those words mean nothing. Why not donate money raised to people who can't afford private counselling and can't wait for months to be seen through the public system?

iwillhtfu

Solobally8 wrote: »

Call me cynical or maybe I'm just slow but I don't understand what the point is. How's about giving the money raised to charities like Pieta house who actually work with people who need help? I suffer from depression, have been suicidal on more than one occasion and I work with vulnerable teenagers. I don't get how a group of people paying €50 to cycle in orange telling us it's ok not to feel ok makes any difference. Less stigma is fantastic but when a young boy is in the depths of despair those words mean nothing. Why not donate money raised to people who can't afford private counselling and can't wait for months to be seen through the public system?

Cynical.

Solobally8

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Cynical.

Ha ha! You are right of course.

perrier

I'm presuming the aim of the charity is to spend the money on the raising of awareness around mental health, and that's where the money goes (costs).

greenspurs

Cynical myself also.
It went from €40 , up to a max of €110, and this increase immediatley gets me suspicious.
Raises a lot of money, but what does it do with it?
The figures quoted are 18mths to 2 years old. The CaS 'organisation' now has full time coordinators, that help run this machine.
But what does it do ? It raises awareness? but is that actually helping the people that suffer with mental issues? Does it pay for therapy? counselling? .....
As someone already said ,Pieta house or Aware would be far better of if the 'Breen Machine' donated all profits from the CaS to them.......

greenspurs

perrier wrote: »

I'm presuming the aim of the charity is to spend the money on the raising of awareness around mental health, and that's where the money goes (costs).

Look at all the sponsors, supporters involved .........
I doubt there are much overheads/outlay involved...

velo.2010

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Perhaps it may not be having the desired effect on a grander scale but tackling mental health starts with small steps.

We all know the issue we are having with mental health and some are trying to make a difference while some will always remain cynical.

Tackling mental health starts with helping those that are suffering. Right now there are people waiting on a bed in the Lakeview mental health unit in Naas Hospital. That e579K could, in theory, be used to open some more bed space. But no, lets spend it on raising 'awareness' and propping up a charity bike ride.

We don't need half a dozen or more charities/agencies fighting for the public's consciousness and good will when it comes to mental health. We need one agency, one helpline, one government policy on mental health - not the piecemeal arrangement that currently exists and frankly doesn't work.

As for Bressie! What does he charge for corporate gigs now, 2-3 grand a pop? His website was created and is run by his talent agency. Yes, there's money to be made from mental health folks.

roosterman71

All this awareness talk is starting to get to me.

I'm fairly clued in to whats going on around me, and up till last year I'd never heard of "Cycle Against Suicide", and I've attended a fair few charity cycles around the place. I only heard of CaS cos someone I know designed posters for their ball last December (which I attended for €50). Since then even I only ever hear of it if my friend shares something on Facebook. So all this "raising awareness" is lost on me. Where are they raising it?

Subcomandante Marcos

roosterman71 wrote: »

All this awareness talk is starting to get to me.

I'm fairly clued in to whats going on around me, and up till last year I'd never heard of "Cycle Against Suicide", and I've attended a fair few charity cycles around the place. I only heard of CaS cos someone I know designed posters for their ball last December (which I attended for €50). Since then even I only ever hear of it if my friend shares something on Facebook. So all this "raising awareness" is lost on me. Where are they raising it?

Schools and universities mostly.

pedro_colnago

I've done a lot of charity cycles over the years and I seem to think the well is beginning to run dry, it seems to me it's getting harder to get sponsorship for them, due probably to there being more and more charity cycles out there.

fryup

personally speaking i think CAS is a great idea..combining mental health awareness with physical excercise ..as someone who suffers from depression myself anything that gets me out and about is a good thing...and as we all know one of the best ways to tackle mental illness is through exercise and socialising so in that sense it is a worthwhile campaign esp for those participating in it

man_no_plan

roosterman71 wrote: »

All this awareness talk is starting to get to me.

I'm fairly clued in to whats going on around me, and up till last year I'd never heard of "Cycle Against Suicide", and I've attended a fair few charity cycles around the place. I only heard of CaS cos someone I know designed posters for their ball last December (which I attended for €50). Since then even I only ever hear of it if my friend shares something on Facebook. So all this "raising awareness" is lost on me. Where are they raising it?

There is a massive issue with mental health and youth mental health in particular.

Raising awareness is about more than hearing about a particular event on the radio all the time.

There is a lot of stigma attached to any kind of mental illness be it schizophrenia or an eating disorder. If the attitude of teenagers can be changed then maybe it will make it easier for people to say theyre not well.

There is still a massive problem with services however, they can't cope as it is. I know in the school I'm in we are very limited in where we can refer someone. Its usually the GP and their only answer is the prescription pad.

But the messafe is still a good one, its okay not to feel okay.

fryup

.....and its absolutely Ok to ask for help

seanin4711

Awareness great but not much of a dent in suicide rates,unfortunately

Solobally8

fryup wrote: »

.....and its absolutely Ok to ask for help

That's great thanks. Can you help me with the €75 my local CBT therapist charges per session?

fryup

just finished two days - Ballinasloe to Tipperary town, had a whale of a time

big thumbs up to all involved in CAS, and big thank you to all those who prepared the big spread during the lunch stopovers, i stuffed my face

think i put on more weight than lost during the two days:p

thanks to all who cheered us on and to the trainee gaurds in Templemore

philstar

well its over for another year

who did it? ...who enjoyed it? twas a tad slow but then again its not a race it has to cater for all fitness levels

bit disapointed with kilmainham at the end, thought it was bit of a damp squib no
BBQ like last year...overall good though and very well organised

JK.BMC

Congratulations to all involved- exercise is good, cycling is excellent, and tackling mental health 'issues' is a worthy cause.

So now: I will keep it simple. Who gets the money?

seanin4711

JK.BMC wrote: »

Congratulations to all involved- exercise is good, cycling is excellent, and tackling mental health 'issues' is a worthy cause.

So now: I will keep it simple. Who gets the money?

sure who cares as long as your raising "awareness".

JK.BMC

seanin4711 wrote: »

sure who cares as long as your raising "awareness".

Maybe. But I'm unaware of where the money goes. That's all I'm wondering

roosterman71

Video I seen of the final day

greenspurs

In light of the Console scandal.....
Where does all the money go Jim ? Transparency helps....

yop

greenspurs wrote: »

In light of the Console scandal.....
Where does all the money go Jim ? Transparency helps....

I won't answer for Jim, but the little I know about where money goes to is to fund the schools programs they do every year. They go and visit schools and try and get the message across and push the awareness. Also to fund the youth congress.
I've been involved as an organiser of the Spin Off and as a volunteer at the Youth congress so thats all I know.

velo.2010

On the website it says that the 2015 accounts would be published before the 30/6/2016. Still no sign. I wonder if the latest scandal has them worried about how donors might react to what's in this new report?

JK.BMC

yop wrote: »

I won't answer for Jim, but the little I know about where money goes to is to fund the schools programs they do every year. They go and visit schools and try and get the message across and push the awareness. Also to fund the youth congress.
I've been involved as an organiser of the Spin Off and as a volunteer at the Youth congress so thats all I know.

Perhaps with all this money raised, it might be an idea to give it to the Department of Education and Skills so as to fund actual professional people who could actually work in schools year-on-year to help address some of the shortfall around mental health education/resources etc at present. Just an idea.
I don't really know much about the politics of it all but to use an analogy, if I wanted to get my plumbing fixed I'd ring a professional plumber before I would contact somebody who had an awareness of plumbing. I don't mean to sound trite but I just prefer seeing money being directed to those best suited to solve the problems outlined.
No doubt a lot of good work and positivity is generated by this enterprise. But the proper funding and resourcing of public mental health programmes is an issue that animates people from all sectors of society- it is only right that people see such funding being spent wisely.

ted1

JK.BMC wrote: »

Perhaps with all this money raised, it might be an idea to give it to the Department of Education and Skills so as to fund actual professional people who could actually work in schools year-on-year to help address some of the shortfall around mental health education/resources etc at present. Just an idea.
I don't really know much about the politics of it all but to use an analogy, if I wanted to get my plumbing fixed I'd ring a professional plumber before I would contact somebody who had an awareness of plumbing. I don't mean to sound trite but I just prefer seeing money being directed to those best suited to solve the problems outlined.
No doubt a lot of good work and positivity is generated by this enterprise. But the proper funding and resourcing of public mental health programmes is an issue that animates people from all sectors of society- it is only right that people see such funding being spent wisely.

If it goes to the department it'll go into central funds and could end up anywhere .
If you wanted a plumber would you call a plumber or a general building contractor ?

Most times A good stream lined agency can out perform the department of education

JK.BMC

ted1 wrote: »

If it goes to the department it'll go into central funds and could end up anywhere .
If you wanted a plumber would you call a plumber or a general building contractor ?

Most times A good stream lined agency can out perform the department of education

Your 1st statement might be true.
I don't understand the point of your 2nd statement.
Your 3rd statement is an opinion- give me a few examples to help.

And have you an idea where the money goes in the Cycle Against Suicide? I suppose that is the reasonable question that is being asked a number of times here.

ednwireland

greenspurs wrote: »

In light of the Console scandal.....
Where does all the money go Jim ? Transparency helps....

The question has to be asked though

cjonesy1

If anything needs to be "streamlined" it's the number of charities in Ireland.

Particularly the number of suicide charities. There's so much duplication in admin etc.

I wonder why there's a relucance to amalgamate...?

2RockMountain

cjonesy1 wrote: »

If anything needs to be "streamlined" it's the number of charities in Ireland.

Particularly the number of suicide charities. There's so much duplication in admin etc.

I wonder why there's a relucance to amalgamate...?

Multiple charities does not necessarily mean duplication of admin. Many charities run on a shoestring with little or no admin resources. In fact, many of the charity scandals that we've seen have related to larger charities, not smaller ones.

You could just as easily say that plumbers need to be streamlined, because we've so many small plumbers in Ireland there must be duplication of admin.

There may admin wastage, or there may not be - but it's really not fair to just point the finger on this basis alone.

There is nothing wrong with having loads of suicide charities, if they are open and transparent about their funding and services. The problem arises if/when you have multiple charities being funded by the HSE to provide similar, duplicated services.