“Our aim in this programme has been to develop health promotion interventions in a community-based venue,” according to Mick Mahon, HSE Advanced Nurse Practitioner Mental Health, speaking at a recent event providing nutrition awareness for users of Dublin South East mental health services. Held in the County Wexford Community Workshop’s Astro Active Centre, Enniscorthy, the event was part of a programme run by the Wexford Intellectual Disabilities team in the region. Mick added that they “provide real-life events for people with complex needs, while developing a collaborative relationship between the client, family, staff and community-based personnel to enhance the co-production nature of this process.”

The psycho-social sports and leisure exercise programme was launched two years ago as a healthy living reform project. The goal was to increase the physical health, mental health and wellbeing of service users through physical activity and modifying lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, alcohol intake, poor diet and sensory integration.

The programme sets out to elicit behaviour change in people with a dual diagnosis of intellectual disability and mental health disorders. The recent event at the Astro Centre catered to mental health service users from HSE residences of Croí an Tobar in Oylegate, Havenview in Enniscorthy and Westlands in Wexford. They were joined by residents of the HSE Wexford Residential Intellectual Disabilities Services facilities at Summerhill in Enniscorthy, Dawn House, Rivendell and San Paolo in Wexford.   

Among those in attendance was nutritionist and dietician Sophie Pratt, who has most recently featured on the RTE programme Operation Transformation.

An element of fun was added to the occasion with both service users and care support staff encouraged to participate in a Jersey Day.

Speaking after she led the July meet-up, Sophie said she had been “delighted to deliver the specially designed exercise routine. It was also a privilege to tailor a talk towards encouraging this programme’s participants’ interest in a balanced diet tailored to specific dietary needs. Given where we were, of course strawberries featured among the healthy snacks enjoyed at the end of the event. In what may be a great testament to what the Intellectual Disabilities team are all about in this project, what will remain with me from my involvement is the fun we all have in identifying the basics for a healthy, general day-to-day lifestyle.”