Over the last 10 years, The Hub BT80 has become a vital mental health resource for the Cookstown area. It exists for anyone who might need it – a warm, friendly spot for a cup of tea, a place to find some friendly faces if you’re feeling lonely, somewhere to access support and counselling, and a whole lot more.
It’s also one of the 14 mental health organisations in Northern Ireland that will benefit from the funds raised by this year’s Darkness Into Light sunrise walk, organised by Pieta House and proudly supported by Electric Ireland.
You don't have to walk to take part: you can run, swim or cycle in your own time, or even take on a special challenge to fundraise for your local community. What is important is that you sign up, and you can do that at darknessintolight.com
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The Hub BT80 is volunteer-run, apart from just two part-time paid staff, but crucially it employs professional counsellors to work with people in crisis.
That means that the money raised by Darkness Into Light, which takes place at 16 venues across Northern Ireland, is essential to help founder Carol Doey to continue offering this lifeline in Cookstown.
“That money is vitally important,” she tells Belfast Live. “Our counsellors are The Hub – we could not do the work if we didn't have our counsellors. Then we run workshops on keeping your mental health well.
“We would not be here without the money from Darkness Into Light.”
Carol founded The Hub 10 years ago for people like her, who didn’t have anywhere they felt they belonged. Some people have churches, their children’s schools, sports clubs or networks of friends. But for those that don’t, life can be hard.
“I never felt I belonged, and I didn't want people to feel like me,” says Carol. “We wanted to open a place with a fire and a nice warm welcome, that people could start to belong to.
“We never knew, 10 years later, that it would be still here.”
Carol lists a number of issues that she and her volunteers in Cookstown deal with – the cost of living is a big one, and so is rural isolation. In fact, she is currently campaigning for the local community bus service to be saved from proposed funding cuts as without it, people living outside the town would be unable to come to The Hub.
Lockdown kept us in our homes and many people have still not fully emerged; the NHS is in crisis; she even sees successful business people “at the end of their tether”.
“I think the world is in such a state of confusion, with financial problems, and nobody can see a way out,” she says. “We try our very best to make people feel that they have a part to play to play to help other people, and that everything's 'figure-out-able'.
“I hate to see people with pain and thinking, 'I can't figure this out, what am I going to do?'. That really upsets me, but I've learned not to get upset about that now.
“So the best way to do that is to open a place where, when people come in with those feelings that I had, and still maybe have an odd time, we can be there for them.”
The range of services that The Hub offers is impressive. There’s a monthly walking group – “we fill the bus every month” – early-morning meditation and cold-water swimming sessions called Chill & Dip, twice-weekly soup lunches during the winter, mental health workshops and a monthly suicide support group.
“They get therapy, they get reflexology or a massage,” says Carol. “If we don't have room here, and if people are looking for counsellors, we always refer them on - normally to S.T.E.P.S. in Draperstown.”
Then there is The Hub itself, ready for anyone that needs it: "They come in and the television is here, they can read the newspapers, magazines, loads of volunteers and they can sit down. There's free cups of tea, coffee, buns all day."
The Darkness Into Light sunrise walk is the next big event in The Hub’s calendar, and Carol says it’s always a highlight of the year. Local people touched by suicide – herself among them – are joined by friends, family and others to undertake the symbolic walk from the early morning gloom into daylight.
“It’s amazing,” she adds. “We start off at 4:15 in the morning, and I think ours is great because we supply porridge and a sausage bap after the walk – and my porridge is the best in the world!
“The atmosphere is lovely – people coming in, wrapped up with their [Darkness Into Light] t-shirt over their coats, we all get a wee candle to hold.
“My best friend took his life so I know how [other loved ones] feel. This whole camaraderie of people in yellow coming down the road and walking in silence – it makes the hair stand on the back of your neck.”
Everyone is welcome to Darkness Into Light on May 6th. Sign up today at darknessintolight.com
