People dealing with a mental health difficulty are being urged to reach out for help this World Mental Health Day.
An awareness campaign is being run by St Patrick's Mental Health Service aimed at addressing the stigma associated with mental health illness.
CEO Paul Gilligan said the 'Walk In My Shoes' campaign is about letting people know they can recover.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Gilligan said the campaign is an awareness-raising initiative that has been running for the past ten years.
He said that the impact of the campaign, along with the work by other organisations to tackle the stigma, has been "quite significant".
Mr Gilligan said: "We now see that people's acceptance and awareness of mental health and people with mental health difficulties has really improved significantly.
"There's still a job to be done around people's understanding of mental health and fully knowing that people can recover and what we're talking about when we talk about mental health."
He added that there is "a whole range of services that people can use".
He said: "Getting services is very tricky but our message this morning is the start of the process is always to reach out, to start a conversation, to make that phone call, to send that text and start looking for help whether that be to a friend, to a loved one or to a formal service.
"Most people start their journey by that simple act but it involves bravery, it involves courage and it involves reaching beyond that stigma.
Speaking on the same programme, Dublin GAA star and Ambassador for Walk In My Shoes Nicole Owens said she struggled with mental health difficulties when she was younger but didn't really recognise them for what they were.
She said: "I built up a sort of coping mechanism where I took it all in during the day and it would come out at night when I had taken off that shield, that defence.
"I let it get to the stage where I could no longer do that.
"In college, I would have had a bit of a breakdown and it was at that stage that I was forced to reach out.
"It's a very Irish thing to not seem vulnerable and I think that I put myself in a position that when I reached out I was in a very low place.
"But if I had reached out sooner and just talked to someone about how I was feeling and not try to internalise those feelings...I certainly could have nipped a lot of it in the bud."
Ms Owens said the Walk In My Shoes campaign is about raising awareness of such issues and teaching emotional resilience to young people in particular.
Mr Gilligan added that people were coping really well during the COVID-19 pandemic but that it cannot dominate our lives.
He said that there would be an increase in the number of people who would develop mental health difficulties and need help, and he encouraged people to find an advocate or supporter to navigate through the available services.
The world is changing, and so are we. Our homecare service offers all the elements of our inpatient services from the comfort of your own home, with one-to-one #mentalhealth support over videocall and other channels. https://t.co/TtwJJLjnyK…/inpatient-hospital-care/homecare pic.twitter.com/6R4pJzFdk1
— St Patrick's Mental Health Services (@StPatricks) October 9, 2020
If you need support, you can contact the Samaritans by calling 116 123, Aware on 1800 80 48 48, or St Patrick's Mental Health Service on 01 249 3333.
