President Patrick O’Shea describes University College Cork as a university ‘in the community, of the community, and for the community’, and this was brought to life right before my eyes as soon as I set foot inside Room 008 of UCC’s Western Gateway Building, one spring evening. There, I was greeted warmly by Brenda Healy, Course Coordinator for Mental Health in the Community, and the Class of 2017/18.

This part-time course, an initiative run in partnership between Adult Continuing Education at UCC and Mental Health Ireland, culminates in a Certificate in Mental Health in the Community.

To look up the course description, you will get an insight into what the students of this course learn, session by session: information, frameworks and structures for enhancing knowledge, skills and values in respect of mental wellbeing and recovery.

However, in order to truly appreciate the life-changing impact that this innovative course is having on the students who participate as well as their loved ones and members of their communities, you need to hear it in their own powerful words.

The focus of this course seems to be what a person can achieve of their own accord or with help – not what they cannot.

We all have mental health issues; it’s just how we cope with them that really matters.

For more information on courses at ACE (Adult Continuing Education), visit www.ucc.ie/en/ace.