Zachary Geddis Trust Launches Christmas Crisis Campaign to Support Festive Mental Health

The Zachary Geddis Trust have launched their annual ‘Alternative Xmaz’ Campaign to help those struggling with their mental health over the festive season.

This year, the campaign focus is on encouraging people not to spend Christmas in Crisis and to seek support via the Zachary Geddis Trust crisis helpline for assistance.

This Christmas crisis service will provide befriending or counselling calls from Friday December 20 to Monday January 20. Yasmin Geddis, CEO of the Zachary Geddis Trust, said:

“Since launching in 2017, The Zachary Geddis Trust has hosted an Alternative Christmas campaign as our family themselves have recognised that Christmas is simply not the most wonderful time of the year for everyone.

“Our crisis service is specially tailored to help people throughout the Causeway Coast and Glens area who are in despair over the festive period.

“The Christmas crisis line will be manned by qualified local counsellors, who have experience working within the Zachary Geddis Trust.

“If you require ongoing support throughout the Christmas period, you will be assigned one person to talk too who will know your story and background, so you can comfortably pick up from where you left off on each call.

“Although this service is initially a phone call, once the crisis period has ended, the individual can then become a regular client with the service accessing 1:1 face-to-face sessions.

“We, at the Zachary Geddis Trust, are committed to supporting our community towards positive mental health all year long, and we want to ensure that this essential service is still available to all throughout the festive season.”

Due to budgetary restrictions, the service can only be offered from 8am – 10pm each day but clients can register for a call back between 10pm – 8am and a registered counsellor will respond as soon as possible.

The service can be accessed by calling 02870440123 or Email info@zgbtst.org.

The Zachary Geddis Trust is a non-profit charitable organisation dedicated to raising mental health awareness and decreasing the stigma surrounding suicide.

Located on the North Coast of Northern Ireland, the Zachary Geddis Trust assists over 200 individuals per week with their mental health.

Each crisis call costs £15, and with your help, we can help to ease the financial pressure of a small charity doing big work.

The Zachary Geddis Trust's seventh ‘Alternative Xmaz’ Campaign can be supported through donations via https://zgbtst.enthuse.com/cf/alternativexmaz

For further information about these programmes and services which the Zachary Geddis Trust provides, please visit www.zgbtst.org , email info@zgbtst.org or ring us on 07934187147 or 028 7044 0123.