We are Rebecca and Aoife, 2 teenagers from Belfast. We have decided to hold a camogie tournament in order to raise funds for a mental health charity as part of our journey with Friends Forever International.
The mental health charity we have chosen is TAMHI. Its mission is to promote mental health through sports, especially for young people. It was created by Joe Donnelly and Stephen McLaughlin in 2011 in memory of their friend, Thomas McLaughlin, who took his own life in 2009. Our project aims to encourage more young girls to get involved in sports and helping in their communities.
We decided to set up this fundraiser because we are currently living in a mental health crisis. Northern Ireland’s prevalence of mental illness is 25% greater than that of England, whose population is 56 times greater than ours.
Sport and mental health go hand in hand as physical activity has been found to have a great positive effect on mental wellbeing. We both play camogie, so this project is something close to our heart that we can’t wait to carry out.
We aim for our project to have a positive impact on our communities as it raises awareness of one of the most pressing issues in todays society. The money raised will be donated to TAMHI and will go on to be used to hold more events for training and coaching as well as TAHMI ambassadors in schools and other clubs. This results in a positive cycle of more clubs getting necessary funds and facilities and hopefully will lead to a decrease in mental health issues in Northern Ireland.
