Young people’s mental health has been in the spotlight during the Covid-19 pandemic and, for teenagers, the pandemic has put isolation, virus anxiety and educational pressures on top of the usual stresses.
However, Newry’s Crisis Cafe is a place where young people can share their issues and support their peers – all while grabbing coffee and a bun.
Grainne Graham, one of the co-directors of the cafe, says it is somewhere that offers clinical mental health support in a non-clinical space.
One of its regular users said “there’s an understanding when you walk through the doors that everyone’s going through something similar”.
“Everybody knows you’ve come here for the same reasons and we all support each other, it’s a beautiful community.”