On 8 October 2024, they are hosting ‘Hope 24’, their second annual conference, a space for people to learn together, to be creative and share their stories. This year’s conference has an exciting agenda, including music, drama and workshops on ‘alternative therapy interventions’ and ‘trauma community healing’. With women’s well-being a large part of ‘Hope 24’, Lighthouse is delighted that comedy writer and performer Nuala McKeever is the keynote speaker.
The conference is a free event, which is building on the success and learning from their inaugural conference in 2023, their 20th Anniversary Year, which brought over 300 people together. In their anniversary year, they not only achieved BACP accreditation and the Diversity Mark, but also played a pivotal role in the success of the Baton of Hope campaign in Belfast, enhancing the visibility of suicide prevention across Northern Ireland. Additionally, they provided direct support to 1,790 individuals, including 365 crisis referrals.
Seeds of hope that led to an annual conference on mental health and suicide prevention
NICVA is proud that Lighthouse is a Member and we caught up with Paul Finnegan (Executive Director) to hear about the journey that brought a charity based in Duncairn Gardens in Belfast to be one that can deliver an annual learning conference.
In 2022 Lighthouse received £50,000 from Community Foundation for Northern Ireland (CFNI) through the Department of Health’s (DoH) Mental Health Fund towards their Ask Twice programme, which provides a youth work mental health programme for young people in North Belfast. As a Grant Recipient Lighthouse was entitled to access a wide range of wrap-around services and support under the Capacity Building Accelerator and Mentoring Programme, which was delivered by NICVA. The purpose of this programme was to provide tailored support and learning opportunities for the grant recipients of the three DoH Funds – Cancer, Carers’ and Mental Health. A range of support was available for free, including bespoke organisational mentoring, executive coaching, themed workshops and masterclasses, and access to online learning resources.
Capacity building is a good investment
Capacity building invests in the development of an organisation, its staff and volunteers, enabling them to be more effective in delivering front-line services within their communities. Lighthouse was matched with a Mentor, Marie Ferris, in August 2022 and together they explored their desire to deliver a regional mental health and suicide prevention conference. This was something the organisation had talked about for some time and were delighted to have expert support help them take it forward. Their Mentor offered them seeds of hope by focusing firstly on what the overall goal of the conference would be and then helping them develop an achievable project plan. Over a period of twelve months Marie supported the staff and volunteers of Lighthouse to develop the plan and in turn deliver a successful inaugural ’20 Years of Learning’ Conference to 300 delegates in September 2023, celebrating the organisation’s 20th Anniversary. There was much learning, but also the success has given the organisation the confidence and belief to commit to an annual conference, and their second event - Lighthouse Hope 24 Conference - takes place in the autumn.
The power of connections and time saving support
Lighthouse has always been confident that the work the Organisation does provides a beacon of hope, supporting people with their mental health and preventing suicide. However, they had a desire to improve how they measured their impact by finding a way to track the journey of their users that told a story of the positive outcomes, which is ultimately about saving lives. Marie was able to connect Lighthouse with academic staff from Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast. They were invited by Professor Cherie Armour from QUB to be part of an expert panel informing academic research around mental health and veterans. Reflecting on the impact and legacy of receiving the wrap around support from NICVA under the CFNI programme and how it has contributed to the conference and their wider work Paul said:
“This support allowed us to think bigger and to work more efficiently. We delivered a conference, have made meaningful connections with our local universities, and developed a bespoke template for evaluation and measuring our impact. The support from the mentoring programme helped make this happen.”
At NICVA, we are delighted to play a small part in supporting Lighthouse make a big impact in the field of mental health and suicide prevention in Northern Ireland. We wish them every success with this year’s Hope 24 Conference, and we look forward to joining them on the day.
If you would like to attend the Hope 24 Conference, it takes place on Tuesday 8 October 2024 in Girdwood Community Hub. Click here to register
For further information on how Lighthouse can help access support for you or someone you know go to Lighthouse Charity Belfast | Lighthouse
