Board game designed to break the stigma and shame associated with mental health and well-being wins award

A UNIQUE mental health board game developed by young members of the Involve Youth Project in Navan and Trim, ensured a runners-up prize for Involve at the ETB Excellence in Youth Services Award at the inaugural ETB Excellence Awards recently.

The win delighted the young people involved in its creation who have expressed pride in the fact it is widely used by youth groups.

The 'No Shame' board game was created by the young people in the Meath project for other young people to play to break the stigma and shame associated with mental health and well-being.

The awards were run by Education and Training Boards Ireland as it celebrated 10 years of Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in Ireland.

The No Shame Mental Health Board Game was created by young members of by Involve Youth Project, which is run by LMETB.

Meath-based Kay McCabe who is National Youth Work Co-Ordinator said she was very proud of the young people and the staff of Involve, most of whom are members of the Traveller community. She explained that they had also won a Traveller Pride Award for the game.

The Involve Project is a specialised youth service working with young people from the Traveller Community and other young people from low economic areas.

"They undertook this project as suicide is seven times higher in the Traveller community than the settled community.

"The game helps young people and features cards that come up with different scenarios.

"It was developed by the young people themselves - people aged between 15 and 20 years.

"It is a proper board game manufactured by a board game company and is available to any school or youth services that asks for it."

Involve Meath co-ordinator Billie Morgan said; "These young people are mental health ambassadors and are true leaders in their communities and along with their dedicated youth workers want to see the barriers around mental health broken down so that every person who needs help can avail of it"

"This game is part of a larger mental health campaign with the young people recently just starting a podcasting project on mental health too."

Tiffany, one of the young people involved said that for her the highlight of the project was making new friends and having fun with everyone. "My favourite memory is doing leadership training in Centre Parcs. That really built my confidence to be able to speak about the game.

"I learned that mental health is a bigger issue than I thought it was in the Traveller community.

"We have now a podcast every Friday called No Shame Podcast and we will be talking about mental health within all communities."

She said she was taken aback by the win. "I feel shocked as I didn’t think the game would go that far that quick. It has been positive within the Traveller community."

Leo, who was also involved in the development of the board game said the highlight for him was going around to local schools in Meath presenting the 'No Shame' game

"My favourite memory was the leadership training and being able to go into schools and explaining the 'No Shame' game to people. This has really build my confidence to talk to people.

"I have learned, it is easier to speak about your mental health with people that are the same age as me.

"The next step is to bring the 'No Shame' game across the country of Ireland to schools and youth services.

"I feel very grateful and proud to be part of the 'No Shame' journey," he said.

The Involve Youth Project Meath works with young people from the Traveller community. They run 20 plus groups a week with activities including health and wellbeing, cooking, baking, STEAM, European Youth Exchanges and mental health.

The awards were presented at a special ceremony in Croke Park.