Lidl Ireland pledge to raise €1 Million to support Youth Mental Health

Lidl Ireland is delighted to announce a new, three year charity partnership with Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health in Ireland. Jigsaw provides free confidential, professional support to young people aged 12-25, in 13 centres across Ireland.

Jigsaw’s data shows that mental health remains a key issue among our young people and while to date Jigsaw have supported over 23,350 young people, demand for their services continues to grow. As part of Jigsaw’s ‘My World Survey’ research completed in 2012, key findings include that 8 students in every classroom in Ireland are experiencing significant emotional distress and may be in need of additional support. A staggering 20% of young adults indicated that they had engaged in self-harm and over 7% have reported a suicide attempt. Jigsaw focus on prevention and early intervention, aimed at addressing mental health issues in the early stages and assisting young people in developing coping skills and resilience that will equip them to deal with future challenges to their mental health.

Lidl pledges to fundraise €1million for Jigsaw over the next three years with over 4,200 employees aiming to raise funds through a variety of exciting activities. Alongside these fundraising initiatives, Lidl also aims to raise awareness of youth mental health nationwide and encourages all customers and colleagues to be ‘One Good Adult’ - a campaign for all adults to support a young person in their lives by being there to listen, support and advise when times are tough.

Being ‘One Good Adult’ in a young person’s life has a positive influence on their mental health. Be it a parent, teacher, football coach or school bus driver, we all have a role in supporting the young people around us.

Managing Director of Lidl Ireland, J.P. Scally said, “We are delighted to partner with Jigsaw to help inspire and make a positive difference for youth mental health in Ireland. Up to 60% of young people in Ireland with mental health problems do not seek professional help. Our aim through this partnership is to raise the profile of the fantastic work Jigsaw do and in turn reduce this number, by empowering our staff and customers to be ‘One Good Adult’ in a young person’s life. We want to empower all Irish adults to better support the young people in their lives and encourage young people themselves to seek help when and where they need to most”.

Speaking at the launch, CEO Joseph Duffy commented; “Without the commitment of strategic partners like Lidl, we simply cannot support all our young people that deserve our help. It is for this reason that Jigsaw is so excited to work with Lidl, in addressing a critical area for all their team, all the communities they are based and the country as a whole – our young people’s mental health. In order to drive the change we see as essential in youth mental health, we see this partnership between Lidl and Jigsaw are one that can inform, support, educate and empower a wide section of our communities, enabling a better understanding of our collective responsibility in supporting young people’s mental health. This partnership with Lidl enables us to do this with impact and at scale.”