A New Life:Fundraising led to a new career and passion for a former personal assistant, writes Michelle McDonagh.
Not many people are aware that there are more lives lost through suicide in Ireland every year than on the roads, but Margaret Tierney is one woman who is determined to raise awareness about this all too common tragedy.
To say Tierney is enthusiastic about her new role as development manager with Console, the support organisation for those bereaved by suicide, is a major understatement.
She feels passionately that suicide is a topic that has been swept under the carpet for far too long in Ireland and it is time to talk about it openly and tackle its causes.
"Since I started working with Console three months ago, I have met parents who have lost their child through suicide who ask 'why?' and say 'if only' and I have felt their pain.
"Suicide is a compelling and personal tragedy that leaves families and friends bewildered, confused and desperately searching for answers," she says.
"I am working for an organisation that cares deeply and is providing a much needed counselling service to the families of people who have died through suicide," she explains.
It's a very different role from Tierney's job as PA in the busy human resources department at Boston Scientific in Galway, but it was through her fundraising efforts with that company that she first came in contact with Console.
It was a phone call from Console's chairman, Paul Kelly, in 2004 that not only raised Tierney's own awareness about suicide, but led to a new career and passion for life for the former workaholic.
Console is a support organisation that was set up in 2002 by families who experienced the grief of losing a loved one through suicide.
It has since developed into a professional organisation responding to the needs of those bereaved through suicide with offices in Dublin and Galway and one due to open in Cork next year.
In one of life's little ironies, the organisation's Galway office, Console House, is located at 26 Bowling Green, two doors away from Tierney's family home.
Her willingness to try to look out for other people is a legacy that Tierney inherited from her father, who was Lord Mayor of Galway in 1968.
One of Tierney's main roles in Boston Scientific was to deal with the many requests for sponsorship that came in from all types of organisations.
Through sponsorship and funding, the company and its staff raised €125,000 for Console in 2004 in a campaign led by Tierney.
Tierney's own children have friends who died through suicide and she has seen the effects of such a tragedy on them, but did not know what to say to them at the time - all she could do was put her arms around them.
She read Console's book, Living with Suicide, which deals with the topic of suicide in layman's terms and provides advice on how to approach a family bereaved by suicide because most people don't know what to say.
Tierney did a foundation course in counselling and has gone on to study for a degree in psychotherapy and counselling at the Counselling Institute in Athlone every second weekend on a part-time basis.
Last year, she took redundancy from Boston Scientific and has just taken on the role as development manager for Console.
The Galway office has one full-time counsellor and two to three part-time counsellors but with suicide so prevalent in the west of Ireland, there is a great need for more full-time counsellors.
"In 2004, 457 people died through suicide - that's more deaths than on the road," says Tierney.
"People who take their own lives come from every strata of society and every age. It's a problem nobody can fully explain."
Console offers a range of services including a national helpline at 1800 201 890, individual and family counselling, counselling to children and young people through a partnership with the Daughters of Charity, support groups and literature on suicide.
Tierney plans to go into full-time counselling when she finishes her degree, specialising in the area of suicide bereavement as there are very few people specialising in this area in Ireland.
For further information, contact Console on tel: 091 782836 or e-mail margaret@console.ie.