Michael Lowry has warmly welcomed the news that further progress has been made in securing a suitable premises to house the main base for the much-anticipated Jigsaw Project in Thurles.
The National Centre for Youth Mental Health has identified three suitable locations in the town and once final consensus is reached on a premises, this vital service for the young people of Tipperary will come on stream in two to three months’ time.
With Thurles as the central base, Jigsaw plans to subsequently open hubs in both Roscrea and Clonmel, which will make access to mental health care even more readily available to young people across Tipperary.
The provision of accessible mental health care for young people has always been a priority for Michael Lowry. On learning of plans by Jigsaw to provide their services in Tipperary, Deputy Lowry immediately made representations to ensure that the base would be here in Thurles, which is central and easily accessible to the entire county.
Mr Lowry also campaigned to have hubs based in other key locations in Tipperary, once this main base in Thurles is established. To date, agreement has been reached on having hubs located in both Roscrea and Clonmel, but there is an awareness that similar hubs are needed in other areas and Deputy Lowry will continue to highlight this need.
Jigsaw is a professionally staffed service under the auspices of the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, which aims to ensure that no young person feels alone, isolated or disconnected from other around them. Jigsaw provides vital supports to young people with their mental health by working closely with communities across the country.
Jigsaw provides early intervention mental health support to young people aged 12 – 25 years old. It is recognised that mental health difficulties peak during teenage and early adult years and that many young people are unlikely to look for help. However, Jigsaw’s approach is to work with young people, and through their Youth Advisory Panel, they listen to what young people have to say and involve them in shaping the ways in which Jigsaw can help can support mental health.
Deputy Lowry says that proof of the effectiveness of Jigsaws approach to helping young people is the fact that 25% of the young people availing of the service are self-referrals. ‘Young people are reaching out themselves for this service, which proves that it is needed by our young people. I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that young people across Tipperary will have easy access to Jigsaw’ he said.
For full information on ‘Jigsaw’ visit www.jigsaw.ie
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