PsyCare was on site for Day of the Dead 2023 in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow for an epic one day event.
Following a busy 2022 event, we put together a large team of 20 volunteers who braved the morning rain to head down to the site at Glendalough House.
"This was our busiest event yet,"said Mick Ledden, PsyCare Ireland Director. "We had really amazing engagement with the crowd from the get go".
While PsyCare Ireland provides a supportive space for guests who are feeling overwhelmed or having a difficult experience at events, an often overlooked part of the work is providing welfare and harm reduction information to people. "We had so many powerful conversations with people while they were queueing to enter the event," says Mick, "and we know from previous experience that this can really help to limit or avoid people getting into trickier situations later on in the evening."
PsyCare also deployed new banners and flags around the site, easily signposting the way to the PsyCare tent. As one festival goer put it: "I didn't end up having to go to the tent, but knowing that you guys were there if I needed you helped me when I start to feel a bit anxious at one point in the evening".
With almost 98 guests over the course of the event, the volunteers stayed busy. And as the last big event of 2023, it felt good to close out the year on a high. "It was a really amazing event," says Mick, "we got some new volunteers to get their first experience in the field and we left knowing that we had helped a lot of people."
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