Search

06 Sept 2025

Mayor announces partnership with NI mental health charity MindWise

Councillor Ciarán McQuillan says he has chosen to partner with MindWise to help focus on addressing the stigma of mental health for men in rural communities

Mayor announces partnership with NI mental health charity MindWise

Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens, Councillor Ciarán McQuillan with Amy Stothers, Children and Young People Programme Co-Ordinator, MindWise.

The Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens has announced his support for the charity MindWise, the first of two charities he will partner with during his term as Mayor.

MindWise is a Northern Ireland based charity whose vision is: “A world where mental health and wellbeing is everyone's business”.

Councillor Ciarán McQuillan is from the village of Dunloy and said: “I have chosen to partner with MindWise to help focus on addressing the stigma of mental health for men in rural communities.

The MindWise ethos really resonates with me, and I would like this partnership to help shine a spotlight on the importance of mental health support for everyone and help to encourage early intervention at a young age on these issues.

I know that some men in particular find it difficult to be open about their struggles, especially in small towns and villages where everyone knows everyone else. I think it’s important that asking for help becomes normalised and is not something you feel you need to hide.

I am honoured to be Council’s Mental Health champion and as part of this I’m delighted that Council’s new Sport & Wellbeing Grant is now open for applications.”

While working with MindWise to promote the support they offer, Councillor McQuillan hopes to help trigger conversations in schools and community groups across the Borough so that mental health is addressed from an early age.

He added: “I would encourage community and sporting groups out there to apply for this funding, which allows up to £500 for initiatives aimed at promoting positive mental health through physical and mental wellbeing activities.”

Amy Stothers, Children and Young People Programme Co-Ordinator at MindWise welcomed the partnership, saying: “Thank you to Councillor McQuillan for supporting us as one of his Mayor’s charities.

We are delighted to be working with him to highlight the importance of mental health and we look forward to the Mayor helping to support our initiatives during his term.”

Read more about Council’s Sport and Wellbeing Grant here

More information on Mayor’s charity MindWise can be found here

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.