‘It’s good to Talk’ is basis of charity’s existence

Lifestyle – Judy Murphy meets the people behind Let’s Get Talking Galway, the charity offering mental health counselling

If you were to measure a community’s quality of life by the state of its mental health, Ireland has a long way to go, according to Cyril Hyland, the co-ordinator with Let’s Get Talking Galway.

This charitable organisation which offers general counselling services as well as specialised psychological therapies, was set up in January 2013 by counsellors Cyril Hyland and Elaine Ryan.

They wanted to address what they saw was a major vacuum in the area of counselling and psychotherapy services in Ireland.

“One on hand, there was the public provision from government agencies, which was grossly underserviced,” says Cyril. “Then, there was the private practice, which is fine, but often the cost was prohibitive for a lot of people.”

The two wanted to create a model that would straddle public and private, “in that we’d provide services to the community on the basis of equity where people could pay according to their means, but where everybody would get the service they needed”, Cyril says. So while “one client might pay little or nothing, another would pay the going rate”.

A service that’s based on someone’s need rather than their ability to pay, relies totally on honesty. The Let’s Get Talking Galway model is working because their clients are honest, says Cyril, who points out that the whole ethos of counselling is based on congruence and transparency.

The group caters for than 200 appointments every week in its premises in Liosbaun House on the Tuam Road, in Galway City. You enter a doorway at the side of the Ulster Bank and the organisation is based in a spacious upstairs area which has eight consultation rooms, a family room, a waiting room and office.

Let’s Get Talking Galway has five employees and the services of more than 50 accredited therapists who specialise in areas such as addiction depression, sexual violence and relationship issues.

The group offers one-to-one therapy, couples therapy, family therapy and group counselling across a range of areas.

While people can self-refer, most referrals to Let’s Get Talking Galway come from GPs, says Cyril. “It suits GPs because we can assess clients and send them to the appropriate person.”

The charity also works with local agencies and groups, including Jigsaw and the Rape Crisis Centre, Simon and COPE, says Cyril, whose own involvement with counselling began 25 years ago.

He attended the Rutland Centre in Dublin, where he was treated for a gambling addiction and then trained as a group facilitator, working with the Rutland’s aftercare addiction services.

Cyril’s day job was in a construction company, but that ended after a workplace accident in 2007. The downturn in the economy was just beginning, so although Cyril wasn’t to know that at the time, his change of direction turned out for the best.

For more read this week’s Connacht Tribune.