Shave a Life - University of Galway Medical Society

In February 2023, a group of first-year medical students from the University of Galway approached Galway Samaritans.
The students had lost a good friend and classmate to suicide and they wanted to run a fundraising event to honour him and to raise awareness around suicide. They were receiving support and advice from the university counselling services and from their lecturers. The Student Medical Society had also agreed to help them run their event, which was called ‘Shave A Life’. The centerpiece would be a live event where a number of students would get their head shaved.

The students arranged to meet our Director and our DD for publicity to ask some questions. They wanted to know about Galway Samaritans and how we would spend the money. They also wanted to know about Samaritan, what media guidelines (including social media guidelines). They asked if we would be happy to read through a speech they planned for the Medical Society their social media posts to ensure they were compliant. One student chose to post about his own mental health struggles and how talking had helped him through a difficult time in his own life.

In the run up to the event the students wore Samaritans wristbands around campus, spoke to classmates and the society and posted on Instagram. Word spread and in the end around 35 students signed up to have their heads shaved. The students decided to give all the money to Galway Samaritans as they wanted the money to be spent to support the local branch and to support the opening of a satellite service in Castlebar.
Our Director went along to a sold out event with a box of Samaritans beanies and our good wishes.

Everyone was stunned at the amount raised - over €30,000 - and also with the amount of support shown to Samaritans message.

After the event we met with the 3 organizers to discuss where we might spend the funds raised. We had some ideas about using some of to support current initiatives we have around GAA football clubs. We hope to purchase signs for clubs across Galway. We also hope to put Samaritan banners across the sports fields of the University. The beanies were a big hit so we will be giving some to students who participate in current Outreach activities on campus. We also hope to buy some dog bandanas! These initiatives reflect the interests of their friend who died and they felt it was a fitting tribute. An added bonus is that they are now in contact with our Outreach team who will talk to the Society. We feel this is a really important connection to make especially with students who may later work as GPs or in mental health.

This was an overwhelmingly positive experience, mostly because of the exceptional young people involved. It has opened up avenues we had never previously thought of and raised our profile amongst a group of young people who might need us.

Here is a link to some of their Instagram posts to give you an idea of how it all went!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoUV19hMIc1/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CozM5x7tS2v/