By John Harrington

One of Peadar Gardiner's defining traits during his 10-year Inter-county career with the Mayo footballers was his boundless energy.

The flying wing-back covered more ground than most over the course of an average match as he combined fire-fighting duties in defence with regular attacking forays into the opposition half.

His energy levels are just as high off the pitch and he's putting them to good use with as Project Manager for Mindspace Mayo, a charity that helps young people deal with mild and emerging emotional health issues.

“Our service is a brief service,” explains Gardiner. “We support young people over a period of one to six sessions.

“80 per cent of young people who come to us don't require any additional support. Whereas the other 20 per cent would require more specialist and long-term support.

“Our remit in Mindspace is to work with mild and emerging issues. We're not a crisis service. It's the common, everyday stuff that young people deal with be they exams, relationships, drugs and alcohol, bereavement, or social image.

“That's where we come in. Our remit is get in early and stop the problem from developing into something much, much worse.”

The Covid-19 pandemic means Mindspace Mayo no longer has face to face contact with their 100 active clients, but they're making good use of technology like Zoom video-conferencing to ensure their services remain uninterrupted.

“We've a lot of exam students who are unsure of what is happening and that creates a lot of tension and anxiety,” says Gardiner of the impact of Covid 19 on his clients.

“It's not just the Leaving Cert. It's exam students in college. They're trying to do online stuff at the moment.

“It's the isolation too. Mayo is a very rural county and obviously you could be isolated in a very rural part and you mightn't have great broadband to get access to College notes or to get access to your friends or family.

“The absence of sport now is huge because it's such a big outlet for many people. It's a way of meeting up with friends and staying active and staying healthy. So it's very, very difficult.

“And, then, obviously if you have to self-isolate it adds a whole new layer to it. If you're confined to a bedroom for 14 days then it's very, very challenging.

“We're offering a support, that's exactly what we do in Mindspace. We listen and we give the young people some skills and tools to be able to deal with things.”

Through a strong association with the GAA, Mindspace Mayo are working hard to raise awareness of the importance of emotional wellbeing and the services they provide for anyone who needs them.

They were recently announced as an official charity partner with Mayo GAA for 2020, and a number of school and club football teams are now wearing the Mindspace logo on their jerseys.

“That creates a massive awareness in that local community because it's something that wouldn't have happened ever before," says Gardiner.

“It would have always been the local shopkeeper, but now they're putting a youth mental health service on their jersey, which is great, because it creates such awareness in that community.

“I'm from Crossmolina and Crossmolina would have Mindspace on their jerseys. Before that a lot of people wouldn't have had a clue what Mindspace do even though I live in the locality.

“Once it goes on the GAA jersey they make it their business to find out what it is and what they do.”

Gardiner is also a member of Mayo GAA's Health and Wellbeing committee and has seen at first hand the hugely positive impact the GAA has made on the wellbeing of communities all over the country through the Healthy Club Project.

“It's been a brilliant thing the GAA has done, establishing healthy clubs and healthy officers and health and wellbeing initiatives,” says Gardiner.

“These people are champions within their own club for promoting wellbeing to their members. Every month there's different stuff going on in every club because the Healthy Officers are organising safe-talk training or initiatives about minding your mental health.

“They're providing valuable information for GAA members and getting it out there in the public domain. They're taking away that stigma

“These are people that are in the locality. I would describe them as champions. In Mayo I know them all personally and they're really driving it. They're always looking for extra information.

“Over the last few weeks they're e-mailing and texting what should we do? What information is out there? It's really putting someone on the ground, that's what the Healthy Officer programme has done for the GAA.

“They're all trained up as well. They've all been to Croke Park for training recently. There's training every April in Mayo locally for those people so they're upskilling as well.

“They're doing stuff around alcohol and drugs which is massive now, even in a rural county like Mayo. They're upskilling themselves in relation to that. It's been huge. I think the GAA have really taken it by the scruff of the neck and are doing absolutely great work.

“Because wellbeing is a big part of the GAA, even if sometimes people don't see it as that. Here in Mayo we're fortunate that we have a champion for wellbeing in our new Chairman Liam Moffatt.

“He's very pro-active in this area, which is brilliant. He sees it as integral to the operation of Mayo GAA, that the health and wellbeing of members is looked after in that way.”

Gardiner believes the greater advocacy for mental health from a variety of sources in recent years has had a vey important impact.

No longer is there a stigma around seeking help for mental health issues. Young people now are far more aware that there's help to be had if they feel they need it.

“Yeah, definitely,” says Gardiner. “Young people through the school network are getting a lot more information about mental health, first and foremost. There's a lot more going in relation to mental health promotion.

“When we were in school, that didn't happen. Mental health promotion now is growing and growing. GAA clubs are now doing it through their Healthy Club Officers.

“It's definitely more out there. And young people obviously with social media are more au fait with stuff around health and wellbeing. It's on the right track, it's not there yet, but it's definitely improving.”

The Covid-19 pandemic is going to cause a lot of anxiety for young people like it will for every other generation.

But Gardiner believes they have the emotional tools to cope, and that there might even be some positives to be taken from rising to the challenge.

“Young people are very resilient,” he says. “A lot of them are learning new skills at the moment. They're reading more, they're doing online stuff, be it new online courses or studying for their Leaving Cert online which is challenging, but great, because it keeps their mind busy.

“A lot of people are getting out for exercise close to their home like walking the by-roads which is great too. Hopefully that can continue afterwards. Hopefully there can be some positives that come from this crisis.

“I do believe that when this is all over, the GAA community will have a massive role to play bringing people back together again and getting them back to the local pitch to play football and even just talk about football again.”

* The Mindspace Mayo website is https://www.mindspacemayo.ie/