The national suicide and self-harm charity say they are seeing “staggering” numbers of people contacting them recently, with over 48,000 hours of crisis therapy delivered since 2019.
Over 200,000 people in 17 countries are taking part in the annual Darkness Into Light event which will begin in 18 towns and villages across Cork at 4:15am on Saturday.
The charity hopes the walk will raise about 80 per cent of their total funds for the year and will support over twenty centres around the country, including one in the city that employs twenty-two therapists.
Speaking to RedFM News, Lead Therapist at Pieta Sinead O’Neill says she expects to see an increase in the number of people looking for help with their mental health:
"I do believe that this is something that we are going to be working with for years to come, especially with our young people. Two years of their life has been sitting in a house. We're social beings, we need to be out and we need to be talking to other people. And you have got a crowd of young people and children that didn't have that. They haven't been able to build up their resilience, their coping skills, their problem solving skills that come from interacting with other children and other people. We learn so much from that interaction and they haven't been able to do it."
