Message of hope for vulnerable people
“We’ve been able to facilitate these people to engage in change, but they’re the real champions.”
Those were the words of Deputy Executive Director for Genio, John Healy, ahead of an exhibition opening in Cork today, 26 September, illustrating the positive stories of vulnerable people in the Cork and Kerry region.
The exhibition, Facing Change, celebrates ten years of collaboration between Genio and the Government to reform social services in a sustainable direction for people with disabilities, mental health difficulties, dementia and those who are long-term homeless.
“We wanted the people that had benefited from services to be at the core of the celebration. Often when you’re talking to someone about service reform, it can be fairly remote from the people themselves, but they are really the champions of the work that we’ve done,” Mr Healy told the Cork Independent.
The exhibition will feature ten short films, co-produced by Cork videographer Sam Whelan-Curtin, and ten portraits of people with disabilities, mental health difficulties, dementia and those who have experienced homelessness.
For the portraits, Genio commissioned Ruth Medjber, who worked closely with each person to identify a meaningful location for the portrait and, where possible, provided them with a remote-controlled trigger to allow them to take the picture themselves.
“When you look at the photos, you can really see the joy and the journey that these people have been on, and in many cases are still on. What the exhibition really manages to bring to life is the way in which these people symbolise hope and the fact that they are part of our communities and that’s where they should live and be fully integrated.”
The exhibition is open to the public at St Peters on North Main Street in Cork city from today until this coming Monday, after which it will travel to Donegal, Galway and Brussels throughout the rest of 2019 and early 2020.
Mr Healy said that the exhibition, which first launched in Dublin in April, has been very well received by the public and is hoping for an even better reception in the Rebel County.
“The event in Dublin was great, people really got involved and we had a service user actually launch the exhibition. In Cork we’re looking to do the same, if not even ramp it up because it’s the real capital,” said Mr Healy.
He continued: “We want the core message to be about celebrating the journeys that these people have been on and how they’ve demonstrated how everybody can live a full life in the community with the appropriate support.”
Genio is a non-profit organisation working in collaboration with government and philanthropy to bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people.
Mr Healy said that the future is bright for Genio and for its service users and that there is more hope than ever for people who are faced with mental health issues and disabilities.
“It’s certainly not all down to us, but I don’t think anybody could deny that mental health services in Ireland are very different today than they were ten years ago,” concluded Mr Healy.