Headford News and Community Spotlight

This week, we'll start with a little movie. Click on the arrow at the center to watch:

16 Days of Action Campaign 

25th November to 10th December

In Ireland, one in five women experience domestic violence during their lifetime, and it is estimated that 213,000 women in Ireland are living with severe abuse from their boyfriends, husbands or partners.

Since 1996, Women's Aid has used the 16 Days Campaign to raise awareness of the reality of domestic violence and to push for positive change to increase women's safety. 


In Headford the campaign was launched this week by Jackie Carroll from Waterside House (Domestic Abuse Refuge & Outreach Service). John Middleton from Solas Family Resource Centre explained that by launching the 16 Days Campaign it is hoped that the silence surrounding domestic violence will be broken and that a greater awareness of the prevalence of domestic violence against women will be raised in the community. 


Solas Family Resource Centre has a window display for the 16 Days highlighting the terrible reality of this issue. At the launch, members of the Headford community released balloons in solidarity with abused women.

[photo by Johnny Ryan]

The 16 Days of Action run from 25th November, UN Day Opposing Violence Against Women, to 10th December, Human Rights Day. The campaign highlights the link between violence against women and human rights. Today, women and girls are subjected to many forms of human rights violations solely on the basis of their gender.

These are just a few of the frightening statistics: 

• 1 in 5 women suffer from domestic abuse – This number has been validated by European research carried out in 28 countries.
• 204 women have been murdered in Ireland since 1996. – 53% of those were murdered by a current or ex-partner.
• 1 in 8 women have been abused while pregnant – Rotunda Hospital study
• In just one day 22 pregnant women looked for safety refuge in Ireland.
• 17,254 calls to Women’s Aid national free phone helpline 
• One in four people across the EU knows a woman among friends or in the family circle who is a victim of domestic violence. One person in five knows of someone who commits domestic violence in their circle of friends and family. [Special Eurobarometer 344, Domestic Violence Against Women Report, September 2010]

As the only 24 hour service in the Western Region, Waterside House, Galway gave face-to-face service to 750 women and children in 2013. They also accompanied 75 women to court. 

Abuse takes many different forms. If you are afraid of your partner, if you feel like you have to walk on eggshells around him, if he loses his temper and raises his hand, almost hitting you; if your needs are not considered or ignored and he makes all the decisions in the relationship; if he controls your access to basics like use of the car, family finances, food, the internet . . . Any of these things are signs of an abusive relationship. 

If you or someone you know are experiencing abuse, contact: 

Waterside House Domestic Violence Outreach Service

091.565985

email: wateroutreach@cope.ie. 

OR

Women's Aid at 1.800.341.900 from 10 am to 10 pm, 7 days a week 

Please share this post with anyone you suspect might need help. Don't keep silent. Speak out. It's the only way to end the terror. 

Headford News and Community Spotlight - Headford's Homeopath

The international event: 

16 Days of Action Opposing Violence Against Women 

takes place 25 November to 10 December

And on December 3rd at 8:00 pm in Angler's Rest Hotel:

Seizing Hope and Stopping Suicide

facilitated by

Jim O'Donoghue, Clinical Psychotherapist and Director of Castlebar Counseling & Therapy

For further information, contact Solas at 093.36446.


COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

In the television series ‘House, M.D.,’ Hugh Laurie played a medical doctor, Gregory House, who worked like a sort of medical Sherlock Holmes, using subtle detective work and controversial insights to diagnose and treat disease. Though the character was a grouch, he was described as ‘a genius,’ because his unconventional methods usually worked.

However, as a rule, medical doctors do not think like detectives. Instead of looking at the patient as a whole, they treat each ailment separately, frequently never discovering the root cause. Consequently, symptoms might disappear, but they usually recur or surface as another ailment, seemingly disconnected.

Now, there is a sort of medical Sherlock Holmes in Headford.

Sophie O’Toole, a registered homeopath, sees patients in her cozy at-home office, where she treats each person as a whole, incorporating detective techniques so extensive, they make ‘Dr. House’ seem lazy.

For those who don’t know, Homeopathy is a system of medicine in which ailments are treated by minute doses of natural substances that in larger amounts would produce symptoms of the ailment. The theory is like that of allergy shots administered in a conventional doctor’s office which contain a small amount of the substance that trigger your allergic reactions. Created in the 18^th Century, homeopathy is based on the theory that like cures like. The remedies encourage the body to right the imbalance that caused the symptoms.

Sophie’s soothing voice and optimistic attitude immediately put visitors at ease. Plus, her lifetime of varied experiences have prepared her well for this line of work. She’s lived and studied in France, Scotland, England, and Spain, as well as Ireland, of course. After falling in love and starting a family in the west of Ireland, Sophie says she found a homeopath and was ‘Amazed that she could take seemingly random facts about my lifestyle and emotions and come up with a cure.’ And the cures worked! After that, she was hooked, and found a homeopathic first aid course that also explained theory. ‘It made me feel empowered to help my own family.’

After having three children, Sophie enrolled in a full four-year homeopathic course. Her husband took care of the kids on the weekends so she could undertake long term study.

‘The course was eye-opening,’ Sophie says. ‘This kind of healing takes into account every aspect of a person—spiritual, emotional, family history—it’s all-encompassing.’

Then Sophie had her fourth and final child. A daughter born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a serious congenital disorder characterised by brittle bones that are prone to fracture. The first year of her daughter’s life was spent in hospital in England, so Sophie had to put the homeopathic course on hold for a while. She later found that her daughter has autism, and says, ‘Homeopathy is really helping with that.’

Sophie eventually went on to complete the course and become a registered homeopath. At the same time, her daughter’s conditions have allowed her to learn a lot more about healing than she might have otherwise.

‘Part of brittle bone disease,’ Sophie says ‘is having bad teeth, or teeth that are slow to develop.’ This meant that her daughter did not teethe properly and, at the age of two had only one or two teeth. ‘I gave her a homeopathic remedy and within two weeks, she had twelve teeth.’ This was such a dramatic change that it finally convinced her husband homeopathy really works. ‘He had been sceptical,’ Sophie says, with a chuckle in her voice. ‘Homeopathy can be a little bit challenging to the scientifically-minded.’

Sophie’s been practicing since 2008 and says that she’s, ‘Absolutely passionate about helping people understand that there are other alternatives out there—even allopathic alternatives.’

If you’re ill or feeling bad, Sophie says, ‘Don’t stop trying. There will always be something out there. Homeopathy can offer something for everything—for animals, for plants—even for palliative care.’

To make an appointment with Sophie O’Toole, contact her at 087.2754624 or via email at sophie.t.otoole@gmail.com.