The HSE and the GAA have announced that they will be launching a new joint venture that intends to help people cope with stress in their day to day lives.  The initiative will be launched by the Mental Health Minister Kathleen Lynch later this month and ‘Stress Control’ courses will run in GAA clubs throughout the country from t he end of January.

The programme will be the first ever sport and health partnership that looks to tackle the issues that stress brings and to provide information to people in communities through their local GAA club rather than having to seek help and advice from their local doctor or healthcare facility.

Speaking about the problems that stress can bring and what the new initiative will aim to do, Dr Jennifer Hayes, a principal psychologist with the HSE South, said “When stress gets a grip it can affect how we think and feel, what we do or don’t do, it can affect our sleep and it can interfere with home life, work life and with our social lives. This course is open to anybody who is currently experiencing stress or interested in learning how to manage stress better and therefore improve their quality of life.”

The ‘Stress Control’ technique was designed by Jim White, who is a clinical psychologist based in Scotland, and it has been run in England and Ireland in recent years. The classes will attempt to deal with a different topic each week and will inform the participants how to best control stress and anxiety and offer solutions to sleep problems.The courses will be running weekly from the 29th of January until the 5th of March and is open to anyone over 18 and interested in learning how to manage their stress.