Continuing a new series of stories by people involved with Irish communities worldwide, Tim Kelly shares his own migration story and experience of working with Console's Irish centre in London.
Many Irish people see London as a city of opportunity, but at Console, we know first-hand how it can quickly become the capital of isolation.
Luckily, when I left Ireland on New Year’s Day 2012, I packed one of the most important ingredients for survival and happiness in London - my good friend and cousin Graeme. Friendships and support networks are so important, because it is the absence of both that increasingly leads to people engaging with Console’s service .
As a suicide prevention and bereavement charity, Console offers counselling services and helpline support to people in crisis and those bereaved by suicide. We officially opened our service in London at the House of Lords last month, although we have been establishing ourselves on the ground for two years now.
We also announced the opening of the Gary Speed counselling rooms, which were donated by the family of the former Welsh football manager who tragically took his own life in November 2011 at the age of 42.
Both services are located in central London, with the excellent transport networks enabling easy access for our clients from within and outside the city.
Although we receive some support from the Emigrant Support Programme run by the Irish Government, and we started in Ireland, it is important to us to be a conduit for the whole community in London and beyond.
We know that suicide has no race or colour, and the important message that we put out, through the many frontline services we work with, is that there is help and hope available, and that no-one should suffer in silence.
We were originally approached by individual representatives from the health services, the Metropolitan Police, church groups and voluntary agencies, and asked to consider extending what was a unique service from Ireland following keynote speeches at Suicide Prevention and Bereavement seminars in the UK.
I think people are quickly realising that the instincts of those who asked us to set up here were correct, and that there is no comparable specialised service in the UK.
During the course of our work in London, we regularly meet with statutory and voluntary organisations and bodies who recognise the importance of the vital service that we provide to the community.
A lot of the clients who engage with our service may have previously lost a family member or a friend in Ireland to suicide, and then come to us for bereavement counselling.
Suicidal crisis is no respecter of age, social standing or educational background, and this is reflected in our client base from the Irish community and beyond.
Also, many people who travel home from the UK for funerals of people who have died by suicide, meet people who are already in contact with Console and are encouraged to seek help via our London service.
Console deal with many people from across all spectrums, but one group that engage with us in unfortunately ever-increasing numbers are the Forgotten Irish - elderly people that are living alone and becoming increasingly isolated in what is a vast city.
Typically, these are people who emigrated in the 1950s and 60s, and for many reasons have lost touch with the family structure in Ireland.
In many cases they are beginning to lose the friends and neighbours that underpinned their lives in London and replaced their family here.
When people emigrate, they often feel pressure to succeed. A lack of perceived success (or a failure to “make it” abroad) has kept many people from staying close to their family in Ireland, and their support networks.
At Console, we often see high levels of depression, mental health issues and social problems, especially alcohol abuse, among this generation.
We are here to work collaboratively with existing agencies, whether they are involved in mental health or emigrant support. We deliver a highly-specialised service, concentrating on suicide prevention and bereavement counselling.
Our next steps in London are to extend our free helpline service out to a 24/7 basis, as it is in Ireland.
I am lucky. I have good friends and have made a life for myself in London. I live on the outskirts of the city in a unique village-within-city setting, where some neighbours actually know each other and people say hello on the streets.
I love what I do and I am often the person who welcomes the client into the centre for their initial visit. I can see first-hand the impact the help we give people has, and it gives me intense job satisfaction to see, even at one step removed, the transformation in the person each time they visit.
Console in London can be reached at any time on 0207 821 8865. More resources and information can be found at consolecounselling.co.uk
