‘Putting want and need together’
One of the ironies of the digital age is despite the fact that we have never been more connected, studies show that the number of people experiencing social isolation is increasing all the time.
The organisers of an event in Castlepollard are hoping to redress the balance somewhat for the people of north Westmeath by connecting people looking for a social outlet with the various community groups in their locality.
The Westmeath Examiner caught up with two of the main organisers, Jeroen Holtkamp and Cliff Gurren, to discuss why they feel that events like the one taking place in Hotel Castle Varagh next Thursday evening, October 19, are important.
They told us that the idea for the event sprang from the Castlepollard-based self help group, Dilemmas-in-Care, that they have been members of for a number of years. The first event was held in 2019 and more than 80 people attended, plus 15 community groups and seven national groups concerned about the problem of social isolation.
Jeroen says the need for an event such as this is even more pressing after the impact the pandemic had on many people’s mental health and their ability to interact with others.
“What we learned during Covid is that loneliness and isolation, which we all felt, are devastating for mental health. We are inviting community groups and giving them an opportunity to present themselves and tell people what they have to offer.”
In addition to the local community groups on the lookout for new members, a number of national organisations will have a presence on Thursday next, including Alone, LWETB, Family Carers Ireland, Citizen’s Information, Mental Health Ireland and the National Learning Network.
Cliff says community groups are always looking for new members but don’t always know how to attract them, while many people would like to join groups but are reluctant to put themselves forward. “It’s trying to put the want and the need together. What we have found is that you have two things in this area: you have people who are disconnected, for want of a better term, but yet we have a huge amount of community groups. Fortunately, there is something every day in this area. It is a matter of attracting the people who perhaps aren’t in the realm of mixing with others, especially after lockdown and Covid – people have become almost agoraphobic.”
“The idea is to try to put the people that need somewhere to go with the groups that have somewhere for them to go. It benefits the community groups by helping to boost their memberships.
“We are trying to put these two groups together and by doing that solving a third problem, because one thing we found out during lockdown is that we are sociable animals. We need each other. We need to be able to bounce ideas off each other and talk to each other. When we are not able to do that our mental health capacity to handle things in life diminishes. It is true that a problem shared is at least a problem halved.”
Dilemmas-in-Care
Jeroen founded the self-help group Dilemmas-in-Care to help people going through a hard time connect with others. It meets on the second Monday of the month in the sacristy of St Michael’s Church.
He says the ethos of the group is to get people “to open up and help those who are worse off”. When people help others, they feel better in themselves and their place in the world.
“It is about charity, it is about doing something without condition for those that are worse off. I discovered the thing to do to get out of this [difficult period]... is to open up and help those who are worse off, unconditionally, then you realise the relativity of your own burden.”