G a t e w a y

N e w s l e t t e r

APR

Unit 1, 2 Parker Hill, Rathmines Road, D6.

E-mail thegatewaynewsletter@gmail.com
Phone 085 752 1220 (Only during drop-in hours)
Hours Mon & Thurs 1 - 5pm

Happy Easter
to one and all

clocks gone forward an hour there

is a real difference with lovely,
brighter evenings that we can plan
to be out and about more.

2015

fun. Some members met up on the

Monday in Cafe Moda for coffee
and chat.
We hope you all have a great
Easter. In some countries like
Spain and Italy, Easter religious
celebrations are on a par with
Christmas festivities - with Easter
processions - and are celebrated
with great joy. Easter is a time of
hope and renewal. And, no doubt
Easter eggs will be doing a roaring
trade for the kiddies amongst us
all!!!

Despite recent developments at

Gateway, and the cutting of core
Welcome to the April newsletter
funding at Rathmines Pembroke
everyone. It is so good to be out of
Community Partnership, we are all
the clutches and grip of the cold
united at Gateway and optimistic
Winter and say hello to bright sunfor the future of our wonderful
filled Spring days! There is hope in
project. Read more information
the air as the buds in the trees are
about this in the newsletter.
popping and a profusion of
colourful flowers are all around and I hope ye all had a good Saint
are there if we only look hard
Patricks Day, a great day to
enough. It happens every year, but celebrate our Irishness and have the Hope you all have a great Easter!
each year is still amazes this
craic! The Dublin parade this year The newsletter team
miracle of life. And, with the
was very colourful and looked good

absolutely amazing. The songs & acting was brilliant. It

was lively & there was a
A Group of Gateway members went to see this on
great story line. Our next
Wednesday the 25th of March in the Bord Gis Energy outing is the Sound of
Theatre. The Bord Gis is an amazing venue & a great Music in August. If there
amenity for Dublin City. We had great seats & the
is anybody interested
tickets were a great price. We got a Group Discount.
please let Maura know.
There were seven adults & one child. The Show was
Maura

THE MUSICAL OKLAHOMA!

ARTS AND CRAFTS

We have had a great month in March working on collage
pieces. These have become very adventurous incorporating fabric, oil pastels
and a large variety of different papers. In April we are going to be working on
mask making and hope to keep the adventurous creative sprit flowing. As
always all are welcome to come along and express themselves.

NEW DEPARTURES FOR

PEER INVOLVEMENT

Tim Lloyd

decisions together and it creates

foundations for people, and changes
the way that we work with mental
health issues. Peer lead support can
This Conference supported by the
HSE and Focus Ireland, was held on be individual showing people that
the 6th March at the Rua Red Cafe they can take part in their own
recovery and this changes attitudes
in Tallaght, and was about peer
involvement and peer lead housing.
Mutual peer support is where people
with similar experiences come
together to offer each other support.
An example of this is Gateway.
Maura, Ann Marie and Helen
represented Gateway. One of the
main Conference aims was to
present learning from My
Recovery, My Home Project. This
project helps people with mental
health issues find housing and live
independently and supported in the
local community.

rehospitalisation.
John Cowman, a mental health
social worker who has worked in
this area since 2002 spoke about
The Vision for Change Directive
and about the new polices and it is
thankfully to get away from
institutional care and into the
community. And, he will be the
Project Leader on the new Creating
Foundations Project. From a
housing point of view, some people
need an advocate because they find
it difficult filling in forms and going
for interviews for housing.

Peer involvement builds confidence

and helps motivate people and to
towards mental health issues. This
learn new skills. This is another
is one of the main foundations of our main foundation of Gateway. And
Gateway Project.
that people are not alone. It is
important to build a relationship and
A couple of speakers spoke of their
work with people on their own level.
experience of accessing housing.
Neil Forsyth, from Focus Ireland
Maura and Ann Marie
explained his work in South Dublin. Having suitable housing helps in
their recovery and prevents the risk
Peer support helps people
individually and their families make of homelessness and

WRAP Info Meeting

works for you in order to maintain good mental health.

It is different for everyone and it is about recognising
On Thursday 5th March an introductory wellness tools which work for each individual. This
talk on WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) was ten week course is also a good opportunity to get to
held at Gateway. Ali and Helen - the facilitators of the know fellow participants and it is fun and in a nonupcoming course - outlined what WRAP was all
judgemental environment. Past WRAP participants
about. There was a good attendance at the meeting.
spoke positively of WRAP and how it has helped
WRAP is essentially about developing a plan of what them in their daily lives.
Ann Marie

different groups that RPCP works

with. RPCP and its Board of
Rathmines Pembroke Community Management are winding down the
current programme and are trying
Partnership (RPCP) has been the
to find ways to make sure the
supporting organisation of the
Gateway Project for over 10 years. community work they have
In spite of RPCPs success across supported over the years can
the community supporting groups continue on through other
organisations where possible. For
like Gateway, Older Persons
our supporters and co-workers in
Network, Strengthening Families
RPCP this also means staff
programmes, labour market
supports, supports to young people redundancies from 13th May 2015.
and more, core funding to RPCP
Impact for Gateway
will end on 13th May 2015.

CHALLENGING TIMES

Why? The Department of

Environment, Community and
Local Government have changed
the policy on delivery of
community development work. A
competitive tendering process
meant that RPCP had to compete to
win the contract to continue to
deliver community work locally.
We found out on 2nd March with
great sadness that RPCP had not
won this tender and that Canals
Community Partnership were
awarded the contract for the area
instead.
Impact for the Community &
RPCP workers
We are still not sure how this will
impact on the community and the

Fortunately Gateway is in a better

position than many local groups:
Some of the funding we need
already comes directly from the
HSE, so we can continue if we
have a new organisation to take
over from RPCP and a bit of extra
funding! Our amazing Project
Workers are not RPCP staff but
come to Gateway through other
organisations so they will keep
their jobs.
We have been meeting with other
supportive organisations and the
HSE to secure a sustainable future
for Gateway. We hope to have a
new host organisation confirmed
and in place very soon. The HSE
have expressed an interest in
supporting us they were very

G ATEWAY S CHATTY GUESTS

On 19th March we had representatives from the HSE
visit us at Gateway. Gerry, John and Orla spent a lot of
time chatting with members and were very friendly.

impressed by the project at their

recent visit. No commitments have
been made yet but lets stay
positive and watch this space we
may need some of your passion and
energy for campaigning later on.
Opportunity in adversity
We are working very hard to make
sure Gateway survives the changes
taking place in the community
sector. As a leading peer support
project Gateway and its members
have shown how recovery and
wellbeing can be facilitated in the
community. Together we have
developed a thriving project that
supports over 300 people each year
which is a huge achievement folks!
We know the value and importance
of our members, of peer support
and having a place where we can
just be ourselves, make friends and
come together according to our
own needs. For the time being, lets
stick together and keep positive
because weve already overcome
greater challenges together and
come out the stronger for it!
In solidarity always,

Fionn & Martha

and please watch out for updates in
the next newsletter and on the blog.

year. John was very interested and impressed, and said

that we should follow up with local councillors and that
people need an advocate to find housing.

John told us about a project called Stories from the

Front - a collection of stories about peoples experience
The newsletter team were delighted to explain the work with mental health. We think we gave a very good
impression and we hope that the HSE see how essential
we do and we informed them of our recent housing
survey which we did in Gateway at the beginning of the Gateways role is in the local community. They left
beaming!

A few of my favourite things

by Mary Hughes

MY MIND in Ranelagh is offering discounted

counselling services. Vouchers are available
to Gateway members at 10 per session for 5
sessions. Contact Gateway on 01-4965558. Thank you to
the ESB for supporting this service.

COLOUR

Dusty Pink

FILM

Silence of the Lambs

PASTIME

Swimming

SMELL

Gucci

EASTER MEETUP

FOOD

Indian

PERSON

Izzy my Niece

SEASON

Autumn

Gateway will be closed on Monday the 6th of April.

Phyllis & John will be Meeting in Caf
Moda at 1pm. Anybody interested come
along for a cuppa & chat. :)

CLOTHES Jackets

WINNING OF THE SIX

NATIONS RUGBY!!!

defence, and yet when Wales went

up front they scored a try. Ireland
were narrowly beaten.

Wales opened the Tournament

against England, with England
getting a surprise win. Ireland in
their opening match struggled to
get a distance between them and
Italy but built up a good score in
the second half.

Irelands next match up was against

the hapless Scots and was a
thrashing by Ireland by thirty
points. That was enough to give
in the Championship was against
them the goal difference to win the
England, in which Ireland won
quite comfortably. The next match Championship! And England came
was against Wales which was away very close. Also, good news for the
Against France, Ireland beat France from home. Even though the Irish Ireland Ladies Rugby team who
had wave after wave of attack they won the Triple Crown.
about nine points, yet really
Stephen
outclassed them. The pivotal match couldnt break down the Welsh

DEALS AND DISCOUNTS

Gateway members have been busy going out
into the community and getting us some much
needed discounts for local services. As well as
the discount for groups at the Bord Gis
theatre, they have managed to bag us a deal at
the Swan Leisure Centre for some fab water
aerobics classes! Great work guys! More info
to follow soon...

***THANK YOU***
Thanks and appreciation to all our funders! As
well as those mentioned elsewhere in this
issue, thank you to...

MEMBERS HOUR: MUSIC

WITH RICHARD
On Monday the 20th of April
Richard M will be hosting
members hour, enchanting us
all with his radio voice, his
depth of musical knowledge and encouraging us to
think and talk about how music enriches our lives.
Come along for a chat and bring some of your
favourite music if you like.
11 Wynnefield Road, Dublin 6. Ph. 01-4965558
www.projectgateway.blogspot.com Views expressed
in this newsletter are only views of the
contributors and not views of the Gateway Project.