About Helplink

Mission: Helplink Mental Health’s mission is to provide accessible, free or low cost mental health services; locally, nationally and internationally, 7 days a week and out–of–hours.

The three types of mental health services that Helplink provides are: Counselling, Information Provision and Education.

Counselling Services

(National, Local and International)

Helplink’s qualified, insured and Garda vetted counsellors are available for appointments 7 days a week and out–of–hours from 9 am to 9 pm Monday to Friday and 12 to 6 pm Saturday and Sunday; for free or at low set costs.

Since its inception in 2012, our Counsellors and Therapists have provided appointments to children, young people and adults, online nationally and also face–to–face in Galway and Mayo (Roscommon ’22)!

National Counselling Services

General Counselling
Couples Counselling
Youth Counselling (including addiction)
Addiction Counselling
Bereavement Therapy
Student Mentoring/Counselling Services

Employee Counselling Service: we provide a national staff (EAP) counselling service that is available 7 days a week; nationwide. This is a pay-as-you-go service; which is perfect for companies small, medium and large.

Gambling Addiction Counselling Service: Helplink provides a free gambling problem counselling service, nationally by phone and online (video consultations); 7 days a week and out-of-ours; funded by the Gambling Awareness Trust.

Local & International Counselling Services

Galway & Mayo: locally we provide the above suite of counselling services and also Play or Art Therapy; face-to-face.

Tusla Commissioned Services: Since 2017 Helplink has been providing a alcohol dependency counselling service to clients over 18 referred to Helplink by Tusla. In 2021 Helplink was commissioned by Tusla to provide a second service, where we provide counselling to Tusla foster carers in need of support (general, bereavement, addiction and/or couples counselling).

Irish Abroad & Returning Irish Counselling Service: we also have an international service where we provide our unique fr ee, online Irish abroad counselling s ervice for Irish citizens living abroad and returning Irish emigrants as well. through self referral directly to us or through our referral partners in Irish organisations across the globe and through Crosscare Migrant Project, Safe Home Ireland and the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO).

Information Provision & Educational Services

Mind Hacks is an e-learning platform, providing mental health and emotional wellbeing information and education services:

– Information Service: in this service we curate 100s of Videos and Podcasts (>800 to choose from!) in our unique digital libraries around the topics of mental health & emotional wellbeing. Our libraries are free-to-use and available 24/7, with content for all ages.
Some say our libraries are the ‘Netflix’ and ‘Spotify’ of mental health content!

– Educational mental wellness and resilience building workshops for children and young people that are continuously available for 10 months 24/7 (>3000 children/young people have utilised these workshops).

– Furthermore, we provide live webinars around managing mental health, building resilience and increasing good communication to those in crisis for employees and managers.

The Helplink Show: for over three years Helplink has provided an award winning (GOLD winner for ‘Social Benefit’ at the CRAOL Community Radio Awards 2019 & Shortlisted for the Headline Mental Health media Awards 2020) radio show and podcast that was hosted live on seven local, national and international community radio stations:

Connemara FM
ROS FM (Roscommon)
CRC FM (Castlebar, Mayo)
Flirt FM (NUIG Student Radio)
ACR FM (Athlone)
CharityRadio.ie (National station)
Irish Radio Canada

Show topics – mental health, emotional wellbeing and community

Listen back on:

Our info & education platform Mindhacks.ie CLICK HERE
Our YouTube Channel CLICK HERE

Management & Administration Team

Founder/CEO

Lochlann Scott is Helplink’s CEO, he holds a degree and two post graduate diplomas in Psychology and Health Psychology. Before founding Helplink in 2012 he worked in Social Care and Social Work departments for many years in the HSE West; in residential and long-term family support. Previous to his time with the HSE he held multiple management roles in the retail and hospitality sectors. He also co-founded the Health 2.0 Galway Chapter, and was a voluntary Board Director/Trustee with Mental Health Reform (Ireland). Furthermore, Lochlann is a multi-award winner and has been shortlisted in the areas of social entrepreneurship and radio show production/presenting.

Service Delivery Manager

Laura Condon is Helplink’s Service Delivery Manager. Laura is an accredited counsellor with 7 years experience in mental health non-profit management. She holds a BA in Psychology, MA in Counselling & Psychotherapy and Level 9 Cert in Non-Profit Leadership and Management. Laura manages the service’s Counselling, Information Provision and Education services to ensure quality client experience.

Administrator

Rachael Kehoe is Helplink’s administrator. With a hospitality background, Rachael holds a Bachelor of Arts in Hotel and Catering Management from GMIT and brings with her a wealth of experience in reception and administration. With her recent career change Rachael is looking forward to sharing her passion for organisation and precision as well as promoting positive mental health.

Administrator

Niamh McGrenra started at Helplink as a student intern in 2020 and is now an administrator. Niamh is interested in mental health promotion and studying the constant changes in society through social media and technology.