1) Why Believe in Science? is the title of the Irish Cancer Society's free public talk on Wednesday, November 14th from 6:15pm in the Carmelite Community Centre, 56 Aungier Street, Dublin 2. A panel of experts will discuss cancer research from the patient's perspective. Advance registration on believeinscience.eventbrite.ie.
2) Creative Solutions for People with Intellectual Disability, Autism & Mental Health Difficulties is the theme of a public conference on Thursday, November 15th in the City North Hotel, Gormanstown, Co Meath. The conference will look at the experience and practice of developing mental health services for adults and children with intellectual disability. Speakers include Adam Harris, founder of AsIAm autism charity, Prof Gavin Davidson, Praxis chair in social care at the School of Social Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, and Dr Fionnuala Kelly, national clinical lead, HSE Mental Health Intellectual Disability Programme. More details on info@praxiscare.ie or 041 687 1904.
3) The National Maternity Hospital (NMH) has published a handbook for parents of premature babies as part of World Prematurity Awareness Month. "Babies being born prematurely is still one of the biggest challenges we have in obstetrics. It is also a huge challenge for parents. You can imagine a baby born here at 25 weeks, weighing 500 grams – that baby will need so much support with breathing, feeding and infection, and their parents will spend many weeks on the unit," says Master of NMH Dr Rhona Mahony. The National Maternity Hospital Foundation will hold a coffee morning on November 17th to mark World Prematurity Day. See nmhfoundation.ie
4) The Bethany Bereavement Support Group will hold a residential weekend in the Manresa Centre, 426 Clontarf Road, Dollymount, Dublin 3 from November 23rd-25th. The facilitated sessions use a Christian perspective to help those who have difficulty coming to terms with the death of a family member or close friend. The weekend is open to adults who have lost a loved one more than 12 months ago. More information from 087-2050514 or email: bethanysupport@eircom.net.
5) The Eolas Project runs educational programmes for people who have experienced psychosis and their family members. These programmes are co-facilitated by people with lived experience of mental health difficulties and clinicians.
The project, which started in 2010, has just launched new mental health handbooks for people with mental health difficulties and their families/friends as part of the rolling out the project across the country. Eolas is now available in over half of HSE mental health services nationally, with over 1,400 people using the service. See also eolasproject.ie
6) The annual Christmas Run in aid of the depression/bipolar disorder support group, Aware, will be held in the Phoenix Park, Dublin on Saturday December 8th. Online registration for 5km or 10km runs cost €25. See aware.ie/events
sthompson@irishtimes.com
