Community Services
Perinatal Mental Health -“My Perinatal Self Care Workbook”
Mid West ARIES, in partnership with the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team, UMHL, is delighted to announce the launch of the second edition of the “My Perinatal Self Care Workbook”, together with its online self-paced companion course “My Perinatal Self Care – Taking Care of Me” - https://tinyurl.com/Perinatal-Self-Care-Course Please share this course and workbook with anyone you feel may benefit.
Co-produced by women attending the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service in UMHL, together with members of the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team and Mid West ARIES, the main purpose of both the workbook and course is to empower women to create a personalised self care plan to suit their own individual needs and personal recovery goals. Since the launch of the first edition in November 2023, we have received hugely positive feedback from both perinatal women and staff, with requests for copies to be made available to other services. As one woman attending the perinatal service said: “It is simple, easy to follow (great for reading in between chasing a baby) and has words of encouragement from other mums in my shoes!”. With the support of Nuala Kelly, Head of Service, Mental Health, we have now launched our second edition of the workbook to be distributed to Community Mental Health Teams across the Mid West region, giving access to more women to this important self care toolkit.
Healthy food made easy limerick
Limerick Food Partnership is now taking applications from individuals and groups for the Healthy Food Made Easy (HFME).
The HFME programme offers a basic nutrition and cookery course that helps people switch to a healthier diet, plan meals on a budget and create easy to cook meals. The course content is based on the most up-to-date healthy eating guidelines from the Department of Health in Ireland. It is a national programme rolled out in Limerick city and county through the Limerick Food Partnership, Healthy Limerick and the HSE.
HSE Mid West Directory of Mental Health Services and Supports for Recovery
The HSE Mid West Mental Health Services have created this directory in response to a need identified by the people using our services and those supporting them.
We understand from our Mental Health Engagement fora that people can often feel confused or overwhelmed when seeking information or further support for themselves or others.
The directory lists statutory, non- statutory, community & voluntary, national and regional agencies that are supporting recovery for people who experience mental health difficulties. The Directory outlines where each agency is based, what each agency specifically does and how you can contact them for more information.
Social Prescribing
Social prescribing is a means of enabling healthcare professionals and other professionals to refer a person to a Social Prescribing Link Work who supports people to avail of a range of local services, primarily provided by the community and voluntary sector. Examples include volunteering, arts activities, gardening, cookery and a range of physical activities and hobby groups. They may also link people back into HSE programmes and services for example Diabetes Support courses, Living Well programme, Stress prevention programmes or Smoking Cessation services. Social Prescribing has a number of key components:
Living Well Programme
Living Well is a free group self-management programme. Self-management is what a person does every day to manage their long-term health condition. This may include making choices to improve your health such as becoming more active, eating more healthily and stopping smoking. It may also include more complex tasks such as taking medication, monitoring your symptoms, coping with the emotional aspects of the condition and communicating with healthcare professionals.