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Crisis Café based at The Mall in Newry is creating a safe and positive space for young people to take part in activities and access support for their mental health, before it escalates. In 2023 the project was awarded National Lottery funding of over £300k.
Located beside Newry Bus Station, Crisis Café is within easy reach for young people from the surrounding areas to visit after school or in the evenings.
“From needing a hot meal and a place to do their homework, to music lessons and barista training, we have loads going on to suit everyone’s interests, but at the core we’re there to help young people if they had a bad day or are facing some more serious challenges in their lives,” explains Louise Quinn, manager of Crisis Café in Newry.
“All the sessions we run are called ‘cafes’ as we like to keep them informal, social and welcoming – not strict or clinical. The young people decide on the cafe themes, which currently include arts homework support, photography, LGBTQAI+ support, and an 18-25 cafe. We’ve had to extend our opening hours with more and more young people walking through our doors.
“All the activities we run contribute to positive mental health and building connections, but we also have more focused mental health support through informal chats or counselling sessions. We find that once we get the young people through the doors and they’ve settled into our cafe sessions, then they get more confidence to talk about any mental health issues, such as anxiety and low mood.”
The group received a £336,881 grant from The National Lottery Community Fund last year to run three-years of activities for young people to build friendships and feel safe accessing services without facing any stigma. Crisis Café also took part in the National Lottery’s People’s Projects campaign and won a £69,740, thanks to the public voting for them, to provide additional support for the young people to address digital and food poverty.
One of the young people regularly attending Crisis Café is 18-year-old, Tara Haffey, who now sits on the Youth Advisory Board. Tara has loved coming to the cafe and has received support for poor mental health as well as providing peer mentoring support for other young people at the LGBTQAI+ cafe.
Tara explains: “At school I’ve always felt a bit out of place and like I couldn’t talk about my mental health as no one else was. When I started coming here, I felt comfortable and normal - everyone is welcome, you are accepted for who you are and not judged for how you feel. It is a positive social space that always lifts my mood.”
Louise runs Crisis Café with Grainne Graham and also has some volunteers to help out.
“Louise and I are always available for casual chats, which could be just talking about their day or how they are feeling,” says Grainne.
“We want the young people to enjoy coming here and not feel any pressure to talk if they don’t feel comfortable.
“We then get to know them and learn their interests and strengths, so if something is wrong and they’ve had a bad day then we can have a chat and be authentic, pointing out the positives about themselves and help them reflect.
“We are always building our relationship and trust with them, so they don’t have to only talk to us when it’s serious and there is no stigma attached to having a chat with us.”
Louise agrees: “What’s brilliant to see over the past year is that some of the young people are now speaking to us about an issue before it escalates to crisis point. So, we can provide that early intervention. What we are doing is working and we’re excited to see how we develop further over the next couple of years.”
This year marks 30 years since the first National Lottery draw in 1994. Thanks to those who play the National Lottery games and raise £30 million for good causes each week, £786 million has been awarded to communities across Northern Ireland over this time, including groups like Crisis Café.
For more information on National Lottery funding available visit www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
