My story begins in 2007 when my then 39 year old husband Donal and father of my children took his life in 2007, a hard working family man who appeared to have everything but who had been fighting a daily battle with depression and especially in a bad state for the previous two years, unfortunately lost that battle on the 9th September 2007. Myself and my sons were left in turmoil.

Life led me to meet Mick, love at first sight, I never imagined I could find happiness again and we became inseparable and together we build a life of over 13 years of not alone partners in life but working together. I did notice changes in Mick and he was going through some personal challenges, he was very down that Christmas, but nothing would prepare me for what happened, and tragedy struck in December 2022 when I lost Mick, then 55, my soul mate, my protector, my strength, my rock, my life, and life as I knew it was taken away from me. Mick took his life at Christmas, a month before we were moving into our newly built home. I couldn’t face going in the door. This shook me to the core. I went home to my mother, my only place of safety and security.

I founded Lisheens House in 2014 to help people and prevent death by suicide and I could not come to terms with losing Mick. My grief was and still is overpowering. The strength of my mother and sons are pulling me through this and we simply could not give up on our aim and we decided to continue to support people and their families and to keep the charity running and continue to work and fundraise to support the services it provides to others in our community.

I have first hand experience of living with someone with a mental health issue and of living with grief. Grief is overpowering, crippling and life altering. From the simple thing of getting dressed becomes too much, to turn up for work, put food on the table and try and get on with everyday life can be like having concrete blocks tied to both legs, and each step is like climbing a mountain. That is why I and my family are adamant that Lisheens House is going to be there to help other people survive and potentially thrive. Everyone needs someone to talk to and it's important to have a safe, comfortable, confidential and healing environment to work through your grief. Talking about death by any means is difficult but when a loved ones dies by suicide, its like a tsunami of emotions. Grief I learned is Love, grief is the terrible reminder of the depth of our love, grief and love are forever intertwined, that the deal, that's the pact, when you lose people you love the grief is the enormity of that love.

LIsheens House

Created by Donal O' Driscoll

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