MIND MOVES:NUI Maynooth's annual charity cycle this year donated to Headstrong's Jigsaw Galway initiative
PICTURE THIS. Riding a motorcycle along the hard shoulder of the N6 with 130 cyclists moving swiftly in formation a few hundred yards behind me, and a convoy of vans, buses, safety vehicles and an ambulance behind them, closely guarding their progress.
My job was to spot pot holes, clear their path of recently deceased badgers and alert drivers emerging from side roads. Not quite Ewan McGregor or Charley Boorman, but close. At least the bike was the same, and my sense of exhilaration matched theirs as they rode their Long Way Downadventure through the African continent.
What has this to do with mental health, you might well ask? Everything actually. This was the 21st annual Galway charity cycle by students of NUI Maynooth. And this year the beneficiary of their collective effort was Headstrong.
These students (including some seasoned graduates) were putting their energies and muscles on the line to support one of Headstrong's pilot initiatives in Galway. The money raised is going directly to this new initiative - Jigsaw Galway - to support young people throughout the county.
All young people have mental health needs. Jigsaw Galway aims to ensure that whatever the level of need, young people can access quality support, when they need it, in settings where they feel safe, comfortable and respected.
Planning for the cycle began last year when students had started their academic year. Their first task was to select a charity. Many worthy initiatives competed to be the beneficiary of this year's cycle, but what swung the decision in favour of Headstrong was the fact that this was an opportunity to do something for their peers and to give back something to the people of Galway, who had been so generous in hosting this annual fundraiser for the previous 20 years.
Young people supporting youth mental health, in Galway - it made sense.
While the aim of the cycle was to raise funds, something else had captured the imagination of everyone involved and fuelled the passion of the cyclists, collectors and the support teams: the opportunity to break through the fear of talking about mental health and ignite a discussion between themselves and with everyone they met over the three-day event.
When I first pitched Headstrong to them as a potential beneficiary, I experienced in them the same unease one finds everywhere when the issue of mental health/mental ill-health is raised. It is a very personal issue, something usually reserved for close friends.
Talking about mental health brings up memories for each of us of times when we hit a wall in our own lives and felt we were "losing it" in some way.
It also stirs stereotypical images of people afflicted with severe torment, whose lives can become lost behind walls, and behind a language that sounds frightening - people who are easily disowned and forgotten by society.
For these students, the challenge was to make it safe to talk about mental health; to instil hope in young people who find themselves in crisis; to let them know that their peers care about them, that something can be done and that if they felt lost, there is somewhere to turn.
The morning after their warm welcome into Eyre Square by the young people of Galway, a battalion of cyclists and collectors in bright orange hoodies took to the streets of the city. They were united by a strong sense of purpose that they were doing something that mattered.
At this stage they had overcome their discomfort in talking about the issue and engaged enthusiastically with passersby. Their enthusiasm, in turn, infected the public. Families stopped and marvelled at the many street acts, including a life-sized rabbit, Spiderman, and many other humorous acts that were taking place all in the name of mental health.
There were many moving moments in the weekend. A group of very young teenagers stopped where I was collecting and asked what it was all about. We joked a little and then one of them asked if we were trying to help teenagers who were suicidal. I explained that this initiative would try to catch young people in crisis before things got so bad that suicide became the only way out that they could see.
These four young girls stepped forward, and began to empty their pockets of every bit of loose change they possessed. And then they said thanks and took off.
The three-day event concluded with a return cycle to Maynooth on a bright, cold Sunday. Spirits were high as the group entered that university town with a surge of energy that ignored tired and aching limbs. If ever one needed evidence of the idealism and generosity that is latent in all young people, this was it.
• To see photos of (or donate to) the Galway Cycle '08, log on to www.galwaycycle.ie
• Tony Bates is founding director of Headstrong - The National Centre for Youth Mental Health ( www.headstrong.ie ).
