'People our age never express themselves'

When Dan Healy's best friend killed himself at the age of 21, he and his friends suddenly felt plunged into a world of fear and uncertainty.

"We didn't know what to do, everyone was in a total daze. We were all just frightened, we had no answers for what had happened," he says.

"There was a group of around 10 of us, going to matches, socialising, meeting up on Friday nights. When he died, it just tore us apart . . . people our age never express themselves, we don't talk about that kind of thing. It's our society, that's the way we are," says Healy (24). His friend's death occurred at a time when Midleton was losing one young person to suicide almost every month.

"Midleton is a small place. We knew the Buckleys who died [ see main story], and almost everyone else. We all grew up in the area, went to school. It was awful at one stage. It was almost like you'd meet someone in the pub one day and the next thing they'd be gone." Healy went to his local GP, Dr Brian Jordan, seeking answers. In discussions between his friends and Jordan, what evolved was a peer education programme, organised in conjunction with the Southern Health Board.

"No one really knew what to expect. As it happened, it wasn't in-depth about suicide all the time.

"It showed us how to listen, how to empathise. Everyone felt great afterwards. It ran for a few weeks and we all looked forward to it," says Healy.

"It went into different role plays, put you in different situations, to deal with real-life events."

Jordan says the peer education programme has worked well, but adds that, on a wider level, society needs to respond to young people's needs. Young people at risk won't go to their parents, the doctor, the priest, the Garda or the teacher.

"But they might blurt it out to their friends or someone beside them in a pub after their sixth pint. That's why you need a conduit, like young people themselves."

Brenda Crowley, mental health resource officer with the Southern Health Board, says young people who have undergone the course have a link with health professionals and can direct young people at risk to them if necessary.

"The long-term plan is to have a youth cafe or centre in the area.

"Young people will have a place to meet, they won't have to hang out on the street corner. It would be a place where they could get support, away from drugs and alcohol, and which would be staffed with volunteers who have done the course."

Many people, such as local TD David Stanton, the Let's Get Together Foundation and local businesses, are lobbying and fundraising to get a centre built.

Healy, meanwhile, points out that while Midleton has had its problems with suicide, it is by no means exceptional.

"Men are always seen as macho, they've to put on that appearance, and if you cry you're a wuss. That's not just in Midleton. That's an Irish mentality. It's changing gradually, but depression can happen to anyone. They should have something along these lines in school, to get guys to listen and talk about things and their problems . . . Since doing the course, I'm able to express myself much better.

"When people talk, you learn to listen and empathise. All towns should go for something like this.

"It's just a group of people getting together, it doesn't have to revolve around suicide, but if there was something like this it could save someone and get people to start thinking about each other a bit more."