Mental and Physical Health
The Traveller community is very small, The total number of usually resident Irish Travellers enumerated in April 2016 was 30,987.
Life expectancy at 3% – The percentage of Irish Travellers who were aged 65 or over in 2016. The equivalent rate for the general population was 13.3%
39.7% – The percentage of Irish Travellers who were aged 14 or under in 2016. The equivalent rate for the general population.
Good mental health can be a challenge for all members of Irish society, particularly in times of such economic adversity, what we find is that when this is combined with the experience of racism, exclusion and discrimination that the Traveller community has experienced, the task is greater.
- The rate of suicide amongst Traveller women is higher than their settled counterparts
- The rate of male Traveller suicide is an alarming 6.6 times higher than that of the settled male population
There are many contributing causes to these high suicide rates, including social change, the pervasive problem of drug abuse among marginalised Traveller men, economic pressures, accommodation issues, violence and the extreme levels of discrimination faced by this community.
Resources:
Online Counselling is now available at the Traveller Counselling service.
Further information here
https://travellercounselling.ie/online-counselling
Exchange House Mental health support specifically for Travellers
