SOSAD suicide charity to charge for services
SOSAD Laois accepting a €20,000 donation from the Light Up The Night truck run in 2024
THE SOSAD Ireland suicide prevention charity, which has an office in Portlaoise, is to introduce a charge for counselling services following a large fall in donations.
The charity announced today that it has made ‘the difficult decision’ to charge new clients €15 per session with effect from next Monday.
A spokesperson said: ‘For the last 18 months, SOSAD Ireland has seen a large drop in donations and fundraising, making it more and more difficult to keep the service going.’
The Portlaoise branch of the mental health charity, which is based in Shamrock House on the town’s Abbeyleix Road, launched a crisis fundraiser last March. Co-founded by local mental health advocate Christy Bannon, the group said the Portlaoise office would be forced to close unless it could raise €42,000 to maintain services.
Donations to the fundraiser reached over €12,000, helping the Portlaoise branch to pay the bills and keep the doors open for now. The group does not receive funding or promotion from state agencies.
SOSAD Ireland General Manager Carol Murphy said today: “In order for the service to continue, we have made the difficult decision to charge new clients €15 per session from 19 May. We are trying to source more sustainable funding and are currently in the process of applying to the HSE for section 39 funding.”
SOSAD (Save our Sons and Daughters), which has six full-time offices nationally, provides individual sessions to an average of 600 people every week.
The mental health charity offers support and individual counselling to people with suicidal ideation, who self-harm and those going through bereavement, depression, anxiety and other challenges. Services include crisis intervention sessions, a 24-hour freephone support and helpline and drop-in centres.
The volunteer-led charity, which was founded 22 years ago, relies totally on fundraising and donations and says it provided over 22,000 hours of support services last year. The charity costs €55,000 a month to run nationally.
There is a nationwide service online, as well as offices in Laois, Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan. The Laois branch can be contacted at 083 0291706 or laoisoffice@sosadireland.ie. The freephone helpline is at 1800 901 909.
