Welcome to  HEADSUP Kildare

HEADSUP Kildare is an interagency programme managed in by County Kildare Leader Partnership. Originally a pilot project focusing on Kildare town, it was established as a county wide programme in June 2016 as recommended by an external evaluation.

HEADSUP is an evidence-based mental health education and training programme for people who are finding life stressful, have issues with unemployment, feel isolated or lonely and wish to explore and learn positive ways of managing and improving their overall wellbeing. This group programme aims to encourage participants to make positive changes to their lives, develop resilience and offers support to access local services and supports.

HEADSUP gives people an opportunity to build on their mental and physical fitness while developing an ability to make connections, set goals and develop a life plan to ‘get back on-track’.

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The programme covers 4 elements:

1. Wellbeing and Resilience – supports men who have been experiencing adversity to gain an understanding of mental health recovery & wellness so that they can build their resilience and respond positively to stress and stressful situations. Over the duration of the programme, participants learn to recognise the signs of stress and distress and, in turn, are supported to identify and choose more positive responses.

2. Life Planning – enables men to find their ‘mojo – participants are supported to identify and achieve their personal goals and to access the supports and services available to them.

3. Physical Wellbeing – recognising the strong correlation between good physical and mental health, participants are encouraged to move more and build on their physical fitness

4. Positive Social Support  –  encourages men to get to know others, develop connections and supports networking

Programmes are provided right across the county including Kildare town, Newbridge, Athy, Allenwood, Celbridge, Clane, Maynooth and Naas.

What's happening in HEADSUP Kildare

HEADSUP Kildare are delighted to announce that we will be running a 6-week evidence-based skills programme for men in Coill Dubh Community Centre commencing January 2024.

For more information on our programme, contact Deirdre 085 1068305 or Lorna 085 8421347 to register your interest.

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Programmes in Kildare

During 2023 HEADSUP Kildare ran its first ever women's programme which was a wonderful success.

"·     The programme was very beneficial for my mental health, everyone was so encouraging and helpful"

·      " I would highly recommend the programme"

·      "The facilitators of the course were amazing, they made the content come alive and showed how applicable what we learned is to all areas of life"

·      " I have learned from this programme the work that I need to do on myself and would highly recommend it"

·"The best course I've done to date on mental health, thoroughly enjoyed it despite finding it hard at times"

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We have teamed up with Healthy Ireland Kildare and are running a series of WRAP in the community workshops - keep an eye on our social media pages for locations in 2024.