To mark World Mental Health Day we have gathered together some of the most enlightening and heartfelt moments of honesty on the subject of mental wellness. To start off Jarlath has the tables turned on him as Jen Trzeciak of Jigsaw.ie asks the questions. For the first time Jarlath opens up about his own mental health journey and challenges he finds toughest as a parent trying to guide his son through life and the pandemic. Jarlath and Jen talk about the incredible work that Jigsaw does, then in the second half of the show we hear from Bob Geldof, Blindboy Boatclub, Marian Keyes, Jason McAteer, Caroline Foran and Richie Sadlier.
As the e-Mental Health Manager Jen Trzeciak is responsible for and central to the work Jigsaw does to help young people in Ireland. In a first for the series, Jarlath opens up about his own mental health struggles and Jen gives some priceless advice to parents looking to protect the mental health of their children.
In the second half Bob Geldof speaks about letting the light back in after experiencing loss, Marian Keyes gives her thoughts on the most common misconceptions about mental health and Blindboy Boatclub opens up about his own mental health difficulties.
Caroline Foran also explains how she discovered that mental health issues can become embedded in childhood while Jason McAteer opens up about reaching his breaking point while Richie Sadlier discusses the devastating impact for him when his career came to an end.
This is a truly invaluable collection of conversations for a particularly special occasion, enjoy.
Covid19 has undoubtedly impacted the mental health of our young people, the increasing demand for our services is not a Covid specific phenomena. Demand in 2019 was 22% up on the same period in 2018. Demand in 2020 was 25% higher again (25% increase on 2019).
There has also been an over 400% increase of traffic to its e-mental health platform over the last six months, a surge in demand for its schools supports and a month-on-month increase to calls to 1800 JIGSAW support line.
It is clear that young people need support to get them through the coming months. What we are hearing from those who have been using our services and supports over the last six months is a real cause for concern.
Isolation, uncertainty and fear are leaving many without the core elements we value and need for our mental wellbeing. We have seen a slight shift in the issues that young people are presenting with since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. While anxiety remains the top issue among young people, we have seen an increase in sleep-related issues, family conflict and a marked spike in contacts from parents and teachers seeking support.
Young people, parents, guardians or those who work with young people can visit jigsaw.ie to access support or Freephone 1800 JIGSAW (544729), Monday to Friday, 1pm- 5pm.
To hear all of our episodes in full and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.  
Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.
For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on irishmanabroadpodcast@gmail.com.
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