q SELF-HELP GROUP: Approximately 400,000 people experience migraine, according to the Migraine Association of Ireland. This month, self-help groups will begin in various locations throughout Ireland.
The first meeting in Dublin is next Tuesday evening in the Carmelite (Whitefriar St) Community Centre, Aungier St, Dublin. The first meeting in Cork will be held in the Quality Hotel, John Redmond St, Cork city on Monday, March 27th. Tel: 1850 200 378 or see www.migraine.ie for more details.
q RADIO TRANSMISSIONS: There is no reason to expect mobile phone signals to be bad for your health, according to Prof Anthony Barker, consultant clinical scientist in the Department of Medical Physics of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
"For over 80 years, we have accepted wireless transmission as part of our everyday life . . . A big TV transmitter emits 10,000 times more powerful wattage than [ mobile phone] base stations," said Prof Barker at a recent Science in Society lecture at the University of Ulster Coleraine Campus.
q GRIEF COUNSELLING: Group support offers separated, divorced or widowed people a chance to come to terms with loss, isolation and rejection.
Volunteers will lead a seven-week programme to help people work through their grief, starting March 22nd at 8pm in the Carmelite Community Centre, Aungier St, Dublin. Tel: 01 6790556 for more details or see www.beginningexperience.org
q EATING DISORDERS: Bodywhys, the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, has just launched an educational CD-Rom aimed at preventing eating disorders in young people. It will be available free to secondary schools and can be incorporated into the junior cycle curriculum for 14 to 16-year-olds. See also www.bodywhys.ie or tel: 01 2834963.
sthompson@irish-times.ie
(Lifelines is compiled by Sylvia Thompson)