‘It’s all about community’ – Éist secures new base
Regan Kelly
The aim for Éist is to become a central part of the community, a place where people who need their services can find them, and their new premises on Bishopsgate Street, Mullingar will facilitate that.
Founders Hazel Behan and Sandra Dolan have been working extremely hard in the last few months, and their message is being well received in Westmeath and beyond.
Finding a base was a challenge, as costs and availability of properties hindered progress. Their new base in Agora Suites is also home to multiple studios focusing on personal care.
Hazel Behan, said: “We wanted to find a place, have a premises, because you can only do so much from home. We wanted to have a place where people can pop in for a cup of tea, and we needed to have that set-up, to be able to provide a service that is working and functioning well.”
Hazel said there was some difficulty in securing a premises, and budgets were stretched in the search: “We trawled everywhere, looking at every available option. It was just difficult to secure.
“Rents are just through the roof, and we’re not funded; we are a not-for-profit, so any money we make goes back into free services.”
“We’ve been lucky enough to get a place here in Agora Suites, which is a building dedicated to wellbeing services, and there are some fantastic different businesses running in here.”
Hazel and Sandra reiterated the need for their services in the midlands, for other services like theirs across the country. “We want to run Éist for the community, for the people around us, but also for the wider midlands area.
“Mullingar has one of only six sexual assault treatment units in the whole country, and it is the busiest one outside of Dublin.”
Sandra, added: “Now more than ever, what we are doing is extremely important, especially since the CSO statistics came out showing offences are up another 17%.
“On top of that, the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Mullingar has seen attendances up 7% since January alone.
“Recently, I was looking at a report from the National Council of Europe, and it identified the midlands area as having one of the biggest gaps in services.
“So really, what we are doing now – at this time, and geographically, and with figures on the rise – is essential.”
Another key aim for Éist is to provide education in the community, particularly on the concept of consent.
Hazel said: “Aside from trying to get some money together, we believe that teaching people, adults and children alike, that consent is a non-negotiable at this stage. So we’re really hopeful that people will get behind that, and see a service like ours in the community and help us run it.”
Now that they have secured a new premises, they can continue their work, but at a more efficient pace.
Asked about their plans, Hazel responded: “In three years’ time, we would love to have another five centres open, around each Sexual Assault Treatment Unit.
“That is something that we are seeing in real time, and there is a need for it. In that report from the National Council of Europe, it is recommended that there should be a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit for every 200,000 inhabitants. We don’t have that, we have just six for 26 counties.
“Really, we are community girls at heart, and we feel that if you are going to make a difference, it starts with the community, within our schools, workplaces, GAA clubs. Hopefully, we can get to the point where we are facilitating that.”
Learning to have those difficult conversations is important and they hope they can help make it easier. “We are so passionate about our educational programme, we can really deliver it with some kind of gusto, because we can get into settings and get talking to teenagers.
“They are awkward conversations, but hopefully our programmes can take the awkwardness out of it; it’s very informal.
“We simply need to give young people more credit; they are extremely bright and intelligent, and we want to be able to help challenge what they are being fed online.”