The founder of a North Belfast-based mental health group has said securing the charity's first community space is a huge step forward.
Caoimhin McNulty, 23, from Ardoyne, set up Mental Health Awareness NI by himself in 2018.
For a long time he had wanted to work around mental health within his own community after losing a close friend to suicide at just 14.
Read more: 'It destroyed us': Belfast family on life after teen's suicide
In January 2020, Caoimhin registered a new group called Mental Health Movement (MHM), a fully youth led organisation, one of the few in Northern Ireland.
In an area impacted by the highest rates of death by suicide in Belfast, MHM also delivers mental health workshops to children and young people in youth-based settings such as schools and youth clubs.
The youth led charity was founded on the idea that young people are more likely to listen to other young people about mental health. And 2023 has just got off to an excellent start with news that MHM has secured its first office space at the former Carnegie Library on the Oldpark Road.
The building has been undergoing a restoration process to create a shared community facility in the heart of North Belfast.
Quintin Oliver, who led the ‘yes’ campaign for the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, bought the Oldpark Carnegie Library at an auction back in 2015 with his partner, Fiona MacMillan with plans to return it to its former glory as a meeting place and beacon of hope for the local community.
Around ten years ago, the library service abandoned the Oldpark Carnegie project as they couldn’t make it work – believing that people wouldn’t be interested in going to libraries when they can use the internet.
However, Quintin and the team believed the facility should be able to return to its original state as a “palace of learning".
Caoimhin told Belfast Live: "After some success we have finally been able to secure some office space that our members and volunteers can work from to better serve the community.
"It’s been a long time coming and we are fortunately able to secure this space for the next few years. The new space will allow our members to spend more time working together, apply for funding, engage with the community.
"We can also expand our services and notably we hope to offer a CV and interview prep service and more peer mentoring as well as our referral service. We’re a wee charity and we don't have the same resources as larger charities but our projects are funded for the next 12 months."
He added: "It's great news following our recent winter appeal when we spent close to £1,000 on toys and vouchers, held a party evening and funded a breakfast club.
"We worked with the community foodbank and Patisserie G in Beechmount when we held an evening with young people and the entrepreneurs club, where they got a meal and selection boxes.
"We also funded the breakfast club with £100 and came first in the Tesco community fund in North Belfast with the funds going towards our new support group starting in February."
But as Caoimhin explained, MHM's new space needs some work done before they can move in and get to work.
"We are fortunately in the position to pay for out insurance and the rent for the space for the foreseeable future but we need the support from the public to help get things moving!
"We are able to cover most of the costs but it still needs some work so we've set up a GoFundMe campaign and every donation will go a long way to help us get set up over the coming weeks."
You can donate to the appeal here.
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