Taoiseach encourages people to take part in mental wellbeing poster competition
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association
A poster competition that aims to highlight how art can help support mental wellbeing has made its final call for submissions.
The closing date for entries to the Mental Health Matters poster campaign is July 5th.
The final call for entries was made at Government Buildings on Thursday and endorsed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Art gives us a language for things we often struggle to say out loud, and helps us engage in conversations we otherwise might not have – and that has the power to change lives
Barbara Louise Brennan, a suicide survivor and the founder of Mental Health Matters, the group behind the initiative, said the scheme was about “creating an opportunity for people to express their feelings through art”.
“Art gives us a language for things we often struggle to say out loud, and helps us engage in conversations we otherwise might not have – and that has the power to change lives.”
Martin said initiatives such as this “create valuable opportunities for people to engage with mental health in a positive and accessible way”.
“By encouraging creativity, conversation, and community participation, campaigns like this help reduce stigma and remind people that support is available,” he said.
“I encourage individuals, schools, workplaces, and communities across Ireland to get involved and help continue these important conversations.”
Schools, workplaces, and communities are being asked to take part in what organisers called “a social movement” that has been running for the past three years.
The initiative aims to highlight how engagement in the arts has been shown to support mental wellbeing, reduce anxiety, and help people process difficult experiences.
It quotes a study published by the University of the Arts London in January 2025 which said that engaging with art — either creating it or experiencing it, “directly benefits mental health by reducing the stress hormone cortisol, lowering anxiety, and triggering the release of mood-boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine and endorphins”.
