2022-10-31-annual-report

STEPS Annual Report 2021 – 2022

• November 2021 – A donation of £1722 was made in memory of Paul Mc Keever. The family ran a ‘Light up the pitch for Paul’ over the month of September at Roger Casements GAC Portglenone. Everyone at STEPS was saddened by the sudden bereavement of the late Hugh Mc Williams owner of H&A. Hugh was always a great supporter our charity and a man of the community. Hugh helped many people and organisations over the years. The Mc Williams family and employees and suppliers of H&A ran the Belfast Marathon in memory of Hugh and donated an AMAZING £20,000 towards our counselling service. It is testament to the high esteem in which Hugh was held and we can never thank the family enough for their generosity. November saw us break new ground with funding from Brackagh Wind Farm and produced by Glasgowbury we did a series of podcasts raising awareness of Suicide and Mental Health. Amassive thank you has to go to Malachy, Seamus, Rachel and our counselling team who all stepped out of their comfort zones in the hope of raising awareness of Suicide and Mental Health.

• December 2021 - A donation of £2000 was made from Ballinascreen GAC who organised a ‘Round the world challenge’ which created a great buzz in the community and some healthy competition in people competing to see how many miles they could clock up walking around the newly refurbished walk way at the club. Anne Marie Lagan O Reilly organised a Tropic Pamper Night for STEPS committee and donated £70 and had an anonymous donation of £20 towards our counselling service, a lovely night was had by all. So many of our yonger children are still being impacted by the changes brought about by covid, thanks to Draperstown Celtic who did a fundraiser and allowed us to use the monies to bring in Amanda from Happy Minds Grateful Hearts to do resilience workshops and meditation with primary school children and their parents. STEPS second podcast has been released explaining how our counselling service works. This was funded by Brackagh Wind Farm and produced by Glasgowbury. Once we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of local businesses supporting our counselling service we have had donations from Heron Bros - £1967.35, MDC Tiles and two anonymous donations of £100. As we say goodbye to another tough year due to covid we are hoping for better next year.

• January 2022 – Sent Thank you letters to all the businesses who donated to STEPS in December. A donation of £200 was made from the Corner bar & La Bodega Wines Castledawson. STEPS joined a community vigil on the 14.1.23 in memory of Aisling Murphy and to campaign for an end to violence against women and girls. A donation of £135 was received from SINC Kitchens from their Christmas Jumper Day. A donation of £200 was received from Tony Higgins. STEPS released their third podcast explaining more about the counselling

service and why our counsellors became counsellors. A donation was received of £260 from Topglass following a successful coffee morning with staff. After the vandalism at the polytunnel, Workspace have now secured the site and we are trying to secure people to do the groundworks to make the area more accessible. Our counselling team are very busy and we are linking in with a number of schools to support children back into education.

• February 2022 – A donation of £200 was received from our local branch of AA. Met with Aileen and Ann from Network Personnel to promote their work amongst the committee and the counselling team, so we can signpost anyone we think may be suitable. Happy Minds Grateful Hearts were back in for another block of resilience training with primary school age children and their parents. A number of anonymous donations have been made towards the counselling service of £30, £1000, £50, £100 and £150.

• March 2022 – A donation of £274.21 was received from the old Chinese towards our counselling service. We had a number of people enquire of the history of our second counselling office, The Soup Kitchen (courtesy of Workspace) so we linked in with Ballinascreen Historical Society to provide the information. A donation of £300 was received from Katy Murray who did a snow angel in her swimming suit. Our hillwalking group were back out on the mountain this month.

• April 2022 – Members of STEPS committee, volunteers, tutors, counsellors and coaches from Draperstown Celtic attended training delivered by The Rainbow Project, it is good to raise awareness of the pressures facing the LGBTQIA community. STEPS were asked to judge an Easter bonnet competition by the Mistits, Propertits and friends who meet to take part in cold water swimming at Splash in Monerymore. A lovely day was had by all and we raised awareness of Suicide and Mental Health and the role we play in the community. Booby from Splash donated £100. Had a meeting with Flo and Issac from the local branch of AA to see how our two organisatons could support each other.

• May 2022 – STEPS hillwalking group were back out on the 1.5.22. Tomas Polak climbed the Atlas mountains to raise funds for STEPS Counselling service. Conor Gribben ran the Toronto half marathon to raise funds for STEPS. Hannah and Katie (two P7’s) organised a coffee morning and Hannah got her hair cut and donated it to the Princess trust, in total they raised £1430.20. The Mistits, Propertits and friends raised a total of £4073.05 from their cold water swim and Easter bonnet competition. To raise awareness during Mental Health Week, STEPS linked in with Draperstown Celtic and TAMHI to organise a morning of football encouraging more girls and women into the activity. It was a really good mornings craic. Thanks to Workspace STEPS have now moved premises to the new Workspace Community Hub, massive thank you to our committee and workspace for helping with the move. STEPS fourth podcast has been launched,

funded by Brackagh Wind Farm and produced by Glasgowbury. STEPS Hillwalkers were out again tackling Banagher Dam for their recent hillwalk.

• June 2022 – To celebrate STEPS being 10 years old, we wanted an event to bring the community together but keep it a low cost event for families. STEPS worked with all local schools and organisations and ran a Family Fun Day. We had great support from local businesses who donated refreshments and Glasgowbury and Ballinascreen Historical Society who showcased their services on the day. A special mention has to go to the staff at St Marys Primary School they helped the whole event run like clockwork. A donation was received from Ballinascreen GAC towards our counselling service. STEPS hillwalking group were back on the hills this month. A donation was received from the P7 class at St Colmcilles in Caludy a total of £487.50 was raised. Glenn White from Wild.life took on the challenge of climbing the equivalent of Everest by climbing up and down local mountain Carntogher. On the 27.6.22 it was the official opening of the Workspace Community Hub.

• July 2022 – A donation was received of £100 from Steve King. A donation of £200 was received from our local AA branch. A donation was made by Shannon Mc Kaigue and Emmett Doyle in lieu of favours for their wedding. STEPS are now officially out of unit B1 and moved across to the new Workspace Community Hub, thanks to everyone who helped with the move. STEPS fifth and final podcast covering Depression and Anxiety has been launched, funded by Backagh Wind Farm and produced by Glasgowbury.

• August 2022 - Draperstown Celtic were able to run the Damien Mc Grogan Memorial Cup and donated £500 towards our counselling service, we also had anonymous donations of £500 and £50. A donation was received from Mary Mc Cullagh and Oisin Rodgers who donated £120 in lieu of wedding favours. A donation of £150 was received from Lacie Mc Elhattan who made Derry bands and sold them to her family, friends and neighbours. STEPS secured a small pot of funding from CWSAN to bring Happy Minds Grateful Hearts back in for resilience workshops for primary school age children and their parents. Shauna Donnelly reflexologist for STEPS organised a summer sunrise walk on the 28.8.22.

• September 2022 - STEPS carried out a community audit and focus groups to see what the community wanted post covid. Amanda from Happy Minds Grateful Hearts has been back doing introductory adult mediatation classes as a direct result from the feedback from the community audit. A donation of £100 was received from Colm and Shea Heron. A donation of £280 was received from Ballinascreen camogie who held and underage tournament.

• October 2022 – To mark World Mental Health Day, Cathy Mc Guigan organised a Self care event providing treatments anbd raised £130. STEPS AGM was held on the 19.10.22.

It was another difficult year for STEPS as the effects of the pandemic are still being felt. All age groups are struggling and it was why the committee took the decision to bring in Happy Minds Grateful Hearts to provide resilience workshops for primary school aged children and their parents. Some children need the one to one therapy and some children who need connection and want to learn how to make friends and communicate more easily small groups work better for them. There were a number of big events this year in that STEPS is now 10 years old. It was lovely to bring the community together in a day of fun and celebration. Another big change has been moving premises, as with all change it can be unsettling but we have had great support with the move. Our counselling team continue to tackle the waiting list and we endeavour to always run a safe and ethical practice.