My Mind in Ranelagh is offering discounted counselling

services. Vouchers are available to Gateway members at e10 per

session for 5 sessions. Mary Barnes on 01-4965558.

Newsletter

G a t e w a y

Unit 1, 2 Parker Hill, Rathmines Road, D 6. E-mail : thegatewaynewsletter@gmail.com

JULY 2014

W elcome to the July edition of the Newsletter. Summer is here,

and it looks like its going to be another cracker. We hope you enjoy the

Never give up hope

I lived for nine years in a Dublin men’s

hostel and all was well for many years, till

a man moved in next door to me. He was

jealous because I was clean dressed and

had peace of mind. He did not, so he kept

banging on my wall for one year. He was driving

me mad. I tried everything without success. A

lovely lady, Maura, helped me get other places

to try and live. One day Simon apartments were

mentioned and if all went well, they said they’d

ring both of us to let us know,

“I had only a prayer”

In my course one day my friend rang me and

said she had news about the apartment. I was

blessed, she said ‘You got the apartment’ she

shouted, and I screamed and everyone looked at

me, I said it was ok. I moved in and it was like

Heaven, quiet at night, wonderful staff,

residents great. Jesus never let me down Jesus

and God.

Pat

Just to let you

know there are

Reiki sessions now

available to

Gateway

members, and it is

very good at

helping to reduce

stress and a good

complimentary

therapy. And it is Free!! It is on in York Street in

the city-centre.

Hi.

I went to the Reiki session organised by Gateway

in the Mercer street DCC. Geraldine laid hands

on me very gently while I was sitting relaxed with

my eyes closed in a room with the blinds closed

and soft music playing. I felt a bit sleepy before

the session and refreshed afterwards. She said I

should drink water frequently and warned me that

thoughts could come up for me over the next few

days and not to dismiss them, just go with them.

Thanks to staff for organising it. Paul

Enlightening talk

by Finn from the

HOPSACK

O n the 12th of

June, Finn from

the hopsack

came to talk to

Gateway members. He came

to talk about healthy eating.

He gave a choice of topics,

and the three topics we the

group chose were digestion,

energy and sleep. The topic

of most interest to me was

info on digestion.

On this topic, there was the

recommendation not to drink

(whether that be water,

alcohol, or any sort of drink

at all…) when eating food.

The reason for this is that

when your body is digesting

food, what the stomach does

is to break down the food.

When you drink with food,

the drink dilutes stomach

acid and the food doesn’t

break down, and digestion in

the body doesn’t

happen….I’m going to try

abstaining from water during

meals and see how my

digestion (or indigestion)

gets better.

There was another new plan

around diet, which we

learned about good digestion.

It is something that came

from the Italians. It is how to

eat your food in a specific

order, to maximize good

digestion. You start with

salad, then carbs, then

protein. Salad, maybe with

oil, maybe olive oil, is how

the Italians like to start their

meals. Next is the

carbohydrates, preferably

brown rice, potatoes, brown

pasta, and bread, for

optimum nutrition. That’s

the second food, if you’re not

one for the wholegrain ones,

you can eat the white ones at

this stage. The third one to

eat would be protein. It takes

too long to digest, it gets in

the way of the other foods. It

might be better for the belly,

if you’re having porridge in

the morning, to soak it the

night before.

One last tip he shared with us

was to have an energy boost

in the morning try some

cayenne pepper in warm

water. You can get more tips

at his shop in the Swan

Centre.

Clodagh

COURSES IN GATEWAY

There is still time to sign up for a course this year

in Gateway. The Personal Development

Programme is starting on the 6th of August, and

there will be more info sessions for this during

July (anyone wishing to sign up will need to

attend an info session). Mindfulness is back this

Autumn as well (date to be confirmed), and

Creative Writing will be starting back in

September.

Going fishing..

Gerry the Good Garda is again taking us fishermen/

fisherwomen out on another fishing trip to cast our

nets and fly our flies.

So remember Monday the 7th of July, Parker

Hill at 11.00 am if you want to go and fish with

Gerry...

Act The

Maggot

This course which ran

through Gateway

recently was interesting

and fun! During the

seven weeks, one

afternoon a week,

twenty of us

participants, got to

meet up, God Bless the

teacher, Amy, it was

like a classroom of

children at times as we

immersed ourselves in

various activities, each

week you didn't know

what we'd be doing or

what to expect!

“miming,

mimicking and

story-telling”

We did light exercises,

miming and mimicking

and story-telling and

then down to more

serious stuff with role-

playing which was

educational and learning

to be more assertive in

daily situations. On the

last two weeks we

completed a vision-

board from cuttings

from magazines of what

we would like out of life

or to describe our

personalities while

listening to relaxation

music, some people's

were fantastic and very

arty and creative!

I would like to

commend Amy who

made the course so

interesting and fun. She

was lovely and lively.

The overall consensus

by everyone was that it

was of benefit and

enjoyable. We all got to

know each other better

and were a lovely

group. I'd recommend

this course to anyone

who wants to improve

their self-confidence

and have a bit of fun at

the same time!

Ann Marie

MENTAL HEALTH REFORM

have been busy, (see article below)

and Gateway members have been

busy getting involved with them.

Recently they held their AGM

(Annual General Meeting) which

was attended by Mary B and Oliver

D, who by all accounts did us very

proud. We hope to hear more about

that soon… They also held an event

in June to launch their new website;

Fionn and Oliver D attended this,

among others. The new site is

www.mentalhelp.ie - check it out to

find out more information on what

services are available to you or

someone you care for, as well as

what your rights are and how to get

your voice heard.

Mental Health

Reform thingy...

R egular readers will

remember that several

Gateway members

attended a Mental

Health Reform Public Consultation a

few months back, where they asked

for our input on the Mental Health

Services in Ireland. Well they

listened to what we had to say, and

here is what has happened since, in

their words…

Keeping in touch with what is

happening on the ground for

people with mental health

difficulties is vital to our advocacy

work. Last year, we held public

consultation meetings in Mayo,

Wexford, Balbriggan and Dublin

city, covering each of the four

HSE regions. These meetings

are a good way for Mental Health

Reform to hear local experiences

of mental health services and

identify specific issues on which

we will advocate. The meetings

were attended by a total of 300

people, among them service

users, family members/carers

and professionals. At the

meetings, we shared the

coalition’s picture of recovery-

orientated mental health

services, led discussions on what

helps people’s recovery from

mental health difficulties and

informed people of ways to

advocate locally for better mental

health services.

Two common themes emerged

from the meetings: concerns

about the lack of out-of-hours

access to mental health supports

for people in a crisis and about

the over-use of medication.

Following the meetings, Mental

Health Reform prepared a

briefing note for Minister for

Mental Health Kathleen Lynch,

TD, raising both of these issues

and quoting comments by

individuals who shared their

stories with us.

Another issue raised in 2013 was

the need for an independent

complaints mechanism for mental

health services, something we

followed up on with a position

paper, submissions to the HSE

and the Expert Group reviewing

the Mental Health Act, 2001, and

a series of case studies on our

website.

Check out mentalhealthreform.ie for

more.

P ool

Competition

Drama!

There was much excitement

and anticipation in Gateway

for the monthly pool competition. The pros had their

eye on the prize as always and the amateurs amongst us

thought today could be our day to get our hand on the

much coveted Certificate! There were a few close

games and the excitement was building. Nine players

entered the competition. It came down to a closely

contested final between Sandra and Nicholas. With

plenty of skill on display

between the two finalists,

Nicholas came through to be

the winner for the June

competition. Congrats to

Nicholas!

Also it was decided at the last

members’ meeting that there

would be interest in having two monthly competitions

in July and August on a trial basis. So come along for

extra pool shenanigans this summer on Thursday the

17th and 31st of July, and the 14th and 28th of August.

A f ew o f my

f avour i t e th in g s…

Mary Q

Colour: Yellow

Season: Summer

Sound: Of Water on Stones

Clothes: Summer Clothes

Music: Relaxing Music

Film: Beaches

Book: “The Lilac

Bus”

Hero: Whitney Houston

11 Wynnefield Road Dublin 6. Ph. 01-4965558 www.projectgateway.blogspot.com

Views expressed in this newsletter are only views of the contributors and not views of the

Gateway Project.

Arts & Crafts

The incredibly creative Arts &

Crafts group meet every Thursday in

the back room in Parker Hill. Their

theme for June was mask making

and as you can see it was a huge

success! In July they will be doing

stop motion video, which has been

great fun in the past. The art teacher

(there are some who call him ‘Tim’)

will be leading the group on an

outing again this month, they’re off

to the Little Museum by Stephen’s

Green. Come along for a fun day

out, meet at Parker Hill on Thursday

the 10th of July at 1pm.

The WRAP Café

We are still meeting on the last Monday of the month

from 2:30 to 4:30 in the back room in Parker Hill. This

discussion group is for people who have completed level

1 WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan), but anyone with an interest

in WRAP is welcome to sit in if there is space on the day. Last month we

had a special visit from Victoria Enright, who interviewed some

WRAPPERS (Richard, Paul, Ann Marie, Tom, Ali & Fionn) about their

experience of using WRAP to keep well. We’ll be looking forward to

hearing it on the airwaves, hopefully sometime this Autumn! If you are

interested in joining us come along on the 28th of July, or give Mary B a

call on 01-4965558. –Ali

NO MORE TOAST

We are sad to say that Oliver D is no longer

available to continue hosting the Wednesday

meet-ups in Toast.

Oliver has been very dedicated to this weekly meet-up and we would like

to say a big THANK YOU to him for this.

If anyone else would like to take up the reins on this meet-up, please let

us know and we will advertise it in the newsletter.

The Natural History

Museum of Ireland.

The Art Day at the Natural History

Museum in May. We caught the bus

to the premises and all met up

together outside the entrance to the

Museum. It was free of charge to

enter. Tim the Art tutor led us

inside. There is a huge collection of

stuffed animals, wildlife, birds and

sea life to be seen. What a variety

of species to be seen there. There

are glass cases to protect the species

collection in the Museum. The floor

has air ventilation breathing up

through the ground to help preserve

the conditions things are stored.

There is a name place with the title

of what we were looking at giving

us a clue to what we were seeing.

We went upstairs as there were

more spaces for us to discover. In

some cases a little of the natural

environment is included as a setting

place. We were allowed to take

photos. We all went for coffee and

cake and a chat afterwards. -Oliver R