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My name is Verona Farrell. I am a Child and Adolescent Therapist here in Pieta.
A few days ago, I was in town doing some early Christmas shopping, when a man came up to me, shook my hand and simply said, ‘Thank you’.
I’ll call him Alan, though that is not his real name.
I know Alan because, last year, I was his Pieta therapist.
The first time I met Alan was when he came in for his first therapy session with Pieta. He had called the helpline the night before in a state of real distress.
As we chatted, he reminded me that, a year ago, he was in the darkest place. He was exhausted and overwhelmed and saw no possibility of hope in his life again. This is how he described it to me.
“I was completely numb. I was so mentally exhausted. I wouldn’t have got over that heightened feeling without the help of Pieta. Pieta rebuilt me. It completely rebuilt me.”
Every time we meet a client, we rate their risk level. That first day, Alan was at the top end of the scale. He barely spoke. He just sobbed. And the difference that one session made was extraordinary.
I know that, because one-week later, Alan came back. And he kept coming back. He chose to come back week after week because, as each week went by, he got even stronger.
Seeing Alan with his family on the street the other day filled my heart with joy. And it is wonderful to know that Christmas will be very different for Alan and his family. He told me that he has real hope in his life now. Something he had thought he might have lost forever.
But, the therapy sessions that Alan and I had together would simply not have been possible without the donations made by kind people like you every day.
And it’s not just Alan. The number of people that your donations help every day is just incredible. And it’s people of every age. I have even seen children as young as six and others who are in their 80s.
And I am only one of the hundreds of Pieta therapists working online, or in person in our 22 dedicated Pieta centres all across the country.
The reason I tell you all this, is because it is your generous donations that make all of that therapy, and all of that care and support possible.
In fact, nearly every single one of Pieta’s life-saving services is fully funded by donations like yours.
If you could only see inside one of those therapy sessions or hear one of the calls that come into our 24-Hour Crisis Helpline, you’d see it for yourself. You’d hear people rediscovering a reason to live. You’d see them creating a path forward for themselves.
So please remember, whatever donation you choose to give – be it €25, €250 or more – it will help to save lives. I know that because I see the proof of it every day.
Verona Farrell
Child and Adolescent Therapist Pieta
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Pieta’s Crisis Helpline is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Fully qualified therapists who specialise in suicide and self-harm answer all calls and deliver therapy.
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