By Eithne Dodd | Feb 19 2017
Photo Credit: UCD St Vincent De Paul Society Facebook[br]The UCD St Vincent De Paul Society (UCDSVP) will run a Mental Health Week during Week 5 of the semester.“The main objective of UCDSVP is to help people in need through volunteering” said Dan Kiernan, Vice-Auditor of UCDSVP.“Two years ago, we added the role of Social Justice Officer (SJO) to our committee. The role of the SJO is to increase awareness on specific issues among students" Kiernan said. “This year, we chose mental health as our topic, as we felt it's an issue among many UCD students, and that we should help lift the stigma often associated with mental health.”The main event planned of the week will be this Monday, February 20th. Brent Pope will address the society in Theatre 1 of the Newman Building at 6pm. Pope will discuss his struggles with mental health. He will speak specifically on the subject of mental health in men.UCD SVP are also hosting an event called “Homelessness and Mental Health”. Tom Ryan, team leader for the support team for Home Sweet Home (known for the Apollo House sit in) will share his knowledge on how the current housing crises has negatively affected people’s mental health in Ireland. His talk will take place in Theatre 1 of the Newman Building at 6pm on Wednesday, 22nd of February.The society are also collaborating with other societies for their event. On Tuesday, UCDSVP will collaborate with DrawSoc with an Art Therapy session taking place in the Quad Room at 5pm and on Thursday they will collaborate with LitSoc and Music Society for an open mic night in the UCD Clubhouse.Kiernan said: “We hope to spark a campus wide conversation on the subject, and educate students.”