G a t e w a y N e w s l e t t e r

Unit 1, 2 Parker Hill, Rathmines Road, Dublin 6 ( opposite the swimming pool )

E-mail: thegatewaynewsletter@gmail.com Blog: www.projectgateway.blogspot.ie

Phone: 085 752 1220 / 01 4977005

Drop In Hours: Monday and Thursday 1.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m.

SEPT 2015

T he evenings are shortening. The leaves are

changing colour, Autumn is upon us again,

and the swallows are heading south, leaving

us for another year.

Traditionally, we looked at the onset of Autumn, with

a cold eye, like back to school, the Rose of Tralee, and

the All Ireland finals, however we at Gateway will be

philosophical, and look upon the arrival of Autumn as

a time of harvesting the fruits of our summers labour.

Some of these labours include our new offices here in

Gateway and some new staff. Ali also has completed a

10 week WRAP with 11 people and hopefully this

will stand to their good in the future. Also Kevin,

Shan and Maura organised a great day out in Kilkenny

and again this is what peer-led groups do. We make

things happen for ourselves.

The Newsletter Team

Now what is Richard shouting about?

Gateway volunteers, including Richard M, were at Leinster House on Tuesday 25th August with other Mental Health

Reform activists for the launch of their pre-budget campaign seeking additional funding in Budget 2016. The

campaign ’Invest In My Mental Health’ is calling on the Government to provide a minimum of 35 million in extra

funding for community based services and groups like Gateway. Yvonne D, Richard M, Paul J, Tom O’B, Mary Q,

Maura F, Ali R, Fionn F, John K, and Tom M also supported the event. We also had

a chance to get our voices on the radio with RTE’s Drivetime—Yvonne and Fionn

spoke about the importance of community based peer support, as well as the need for

funding it. Check RTE Drivetime playback and listen online: http://www.rte.ie/

radio/utils/radioplayer. The interview starts at 2hr 12 min into the show but you can

just fast forward. We even got into the papers the next day...

C’mon Department of Health…

A Trip to Kilkenny

On

Tuesday

morning,

11th August

saw 11

Gateway

members

Kilkenny

bound. At

only one

and a half hours train journey it is easily accessible

from Dublin. Kilkenny doesn’t disappoint, it really is a

jewel in the South-East, and is brimming with energy

with an Arts Festival on going while we were there,

and off the back of the cats semi-final win in the

hurling recently and all roads lead to Croker next

month! As the group walked up to the centre of the

town even the window displays of the shops were

lovingly displayed with all sorts of trinkets from down

the years. It is not hard to see that Kilkenny won the

Tidy Towns competition last year, and they are

keeping up the high standards with flower baskets up

everywhere and of course the amber and black flags

blowing

proudly. At the

medieval castle,

which is the epic

centre of the

town, we

arranged to all

meet up an hour

later, with some

of the group

interested in seeing the

castle. There is a lovely rose

garden and a lovely park

behind the castle. There was

a bit of debate as to where to

have lunch, and in the end

we had a lovely lunch in The

Courtyard Restaurant in the

shopping centre near the

train station. Michael, Kevin

and Samo decided to get the 3.30pm train back, the

rest electing to stay on till the 7pm train, as there really

was so much to see and discover. Madeline met up

with friends and was going to stay overnight. Tommy

and Ian decided to do the river walk and made time for

a drink! Mary, Dee and Olwyn had a walk out to the

countryside which they enjoyed. Myself and Catherine

were intent on soaking up more of

the culture up the town.

I bought a 99 cone and ate it siting

on a seat above the river Nore and

it was very relaxing. Up near the

castle artists had their paintings on

show and a few musicians played

their musical instruments adding to a very nice

atmosphere. Kilkenny has beautiful Churches and

Cathedrals. On the streets there were so many different

nationalities and lots of children still on their holidays

til September. It was all conducive to a nice

atmosphere. On the train back we were a happy group,

some were a bit tired but everyone agreed it was a

successful trip and enjoyed it! Thanks to Shan, Maura

and Kevin for arranging it. Hopefully there can be

more trips like this in the future! ~ Ann Marie

TOTO BOOK

CLUB…….

The Toto Book club is

going from strength to

strength with a lovely

gang meeting up 1.30 till

3.30 every Friday

afternoons in Moda café,

and last weekend we

discussed things from

Celtic Spirituality to

Buddhism.

The following week we

talked about Dublin

name places and

anything that had caught

our fancy since the last

meeting. So don’t forget,

every Friday to come

along and have a chat

about anything that you

found interesting that

you might like to share.

HARVEST AND

HERITAGE WHILE WE

ARE ARTLESS IN

GATEWAY…

On Thursday the 27th of

August we had a Harvest

Festival at Gateway in the

back room. Fair play to

Kevin for bringing in

delicious home made

jams and fluffy berry

scones for us all to enjoy.

We all sat around the

table and devoured the

fruits of his kindness.

Thanks Kevin we really

enjoyed them!

W ell guess who called into Gateway

last month?!? Yes, it was Anne O’

Connor, the National Director of

Mental Health. And what a welcome

she got. Firstly Anne got a tour around our beloved drop

-in and facilities. Then Anne sat around our table and

listened attentively to what we had to say about

Gateway. Members spoke about the importance of

Gateway in their lives and we hope that we got the

message across very clearly to Anne because it means

so much to each and everyone of us.

Gateway is a life saver to many of us and has such

an important role in the community—most of us

would be lost if Gateway did not exist, this we believe is down to the way Gateway works i.e. that Gateway is

a member led and peer run organisation where people choose to come for themselves, help and support each

other without prejudice or judgement and make decisions about what goes on here. We are very grateful to

Anne for her visitation and the interest she is showing in Gateway and we hope we gave her some positive

ideas to mull over as well as the lovely biscuits on offer with her cuppa that afternoon. Thanks also to Orla

Barry for her support in the background on the day!

D10 Be Well – ‘Our Service Our Say Workshop’

Myself, Phyllis, Eilish and John K went to this

workshop in Ballyfermot recently. There were

representatives from the D10 Be Well committee,

including reps from the local Mental Health team and

the Irish National Organisation for the unemployed.

The workshop invited participants to explore and

inform a new 10 week programme in development

called ‘Our Service our say.’

We all had an interesting and informative discussion

about how we all though the ‘Our Service Our Say,’

course could best work. Basically the idea of the

course would be to give Mental Health Service users

and supporters, the skills and confidence to represent

themselves and their peers on decision making bodies

that affect them.

The aim of the ‘Our service Our Say,’ course is to

build the capacity of participants to practice as

effective advocates and sit on decision making bodies

that affect them, such as local mental health

committees and community groups. The decision to

develop this programme was taken after the need was

identified among research with 30 peers in Dublin 10.

We represented Gateway at this interesting workshop,

which was held in the library in Ballyfermot. The

library is a great civic space with useful meeting

rooms. One suggestion made here was that maybe the

course should include a personal effectiveness course.

It is important to remember that financial support for

this project has been secured funding Genio Funding.

At the workshop it was recommended that service

users should be central not only to taking part in

course work but also and most importantly in the

design, so as to fully inform the programme of service

user needs.

All in all the D10 Be Well, Our Service, Our Say

Workshop was very positive to be a part of. We hope

our input will be taken on board and wish the initiative

every success. Applications for those interested in

participating in this programme are now open, up until

September 10th.

If you are interested in this course please call Susan

Kehoe on 087 7472364. Alternatively speak to John K

in Gateway for an application form.

This article was written by Oliver Duffy and edited by

Phyllis C and John K.

“Gateway helps you to get back

into society”

“ I am treated with respect and as an

adult - we are all equal here”

“Coming here keeps me well and

out of hospital”

Thanks and appreciation to all our funders! As well as

those mentioned elsewhere in this issue, thank you to...

MY MIND in Ranelagh provides discounted counselling

services. Vouchers are available to Gateway members at

€10 per session for 5 sessions. Contact

Gateway in confidence on 01-4977005. Thank

you to the ESB for supporting this service.

These are a few of my

favourite things

Helen

Pastime: Movies

Smell: Fresh laundry

Food: Spaghetti

Bolognaise

Person: Mankind in

general

Season: Winter

Clothes: Coats

Colour: Green

Song: Big Yellow Taxi

Sound: A crackling fire.

Hi to all you good people!

Many of ye will know me as a

member bouncing from one room to

another in Gateway. Others know

me from the WRAP course I

participated in, which was

completed last month with a day

visit to the Botanical Gardens. (A

glorious day to be repeated).

I have been a member since the

days in Harold Cross and I have

been busy with other activities

outside Gateway. To all those who

know me and to those I will have

the honour to know I am pleased to

inform ye I have joined the

Gateway Team as a Project Worker.

Note to all those who have

completed C.E in the past, you may

do so again if you have come across

a scheme you are passionate about

and would like be involved in.

I have worked within the

community throughout my life in

the areas of Advocacy in C.I.C., a

volunteer worker with Focus

Ireland and Vincent De Paul and a

Gardener with M.S. Ireland. I’ve

been a member of Gateway for a

number of years now so when the

opportunity came up to apply for a

C.E position I leaped at the chance.

I have been awarded a position

where I can help empower peers

with mental health issues and

continue to work on my own

wellness.

I am only a small number of weeks

in my position and already I’m

going home at the end of my day

with a fresh skip in my step and a

proud smile on my face. I’ve the

privilege of being part of a

wonderfully supportive team.

I’m looking forward to being part of

many new projects within Gateway,

working with members and workers

alike, to continue to build Gateway

and keep it as a safe place for

members to grow and continue to

fulfil their lives. I have the

opportunity to learn more about all

aspects of mental health and how I

can assist others (and myself) to

have a contented and fulfilling life

while living with mental illness.

Each and everyone of ye helped me

make the transition from member to

worker. Thank you very much from

my heart.

If ye have any ideas on the

progression of Gateway or the

growth of your own wellness or

anything else at all, chat to me in

drop in.

With a new spring in my step and a

proud smile of contentment resting

easily on my face, I say...

onwards and upwards my

friends ~ Dee H.

PEER SUPPORT AT ITS BEST

We had our August Bank Holiday meet up in Café

Moda from 1pm to 5pm. A great crowd of about 15

people from Gateway turned up. We had teas and

coffees and lively conversation and craic. It was great

for members to get out, meet each other and have

good company for the few hours and all enjoyed it.

Thanks Gateway for funding the teas and coffees and

thanks to all the members for being there.

So thank you Phyllis for making this

happen.

And did you know this? Earth – Since the earth is not a perfect sphere, the pull of gravity varies slightly at different points on its surface. A person who

weighs 150lb at the equator would weigh 151lb at the North Pole. (So if you want to lose weight head south!!)

Now you do.

Learn at Gateway: Creative Writing with Maria returns this month as well as Arts &

Crafts with Tim. These classes are free for members because they are funded by the CDETB—

thanks! These classes are a lovely way to connect with others and build confidence with your

creative side. Arts & Crafts run every Thursday 2.30-4.30pm to December—just drop in. For

Creative Writing—you need to register for a place in advance as these classes are not drop in

and places are limited. Talk to a project worker today!