As Athlone hosts the national Cura Conference this weekend, PRO of the organisation, Charlotte Keary, spoke to the Advertiser about the services provided by the local Cura centre in Athlone.
The Athlone Cura centre has been in operation since 1985, and was one of the first centres to open after Cura was established in 1977. There are now 16 centres throughout Ireland. Nine of the original volunteers still work in the Athlone centre at Shalom, St Mary’s Place.
“Cura was set up for people who felt they had nowhere to go, or were in a crisis because of pregnancy and had no one they could trust.
“Cura offers pregnancy and post-abortion counselling from trained counsellors, offering a quiet, calm space for people who are in what, for them, is a crisis,” explains Ms Keary.
And, despite the first image that springs to mind of the pregnant teenage girl, Cura’s net is cast much wider than this.
“Cura offers a free and confidential counselling service to anyone in crisis because of a pregnancy. The scope is very wide. We see some young men, for example, who are not in a relationship anymore, but discover their former partner is pregnant and don’t know what to do. It might be the parents of a pregnant girl who are finding things difficult.
“People might contact us in the early weeks of pregnancy, or it may be later, at whatever stage in the pregnancy they need support. Maybe a relationship has broken down. Or an older woman who is pregnant is feeling guilty because she doesn’t want to be pregnant or is concerned about health issues,” says Ms Keary.
“We have found that our post-abortion counselling is being taken up more and more. Some women might find in the weeks, months, or even years after an abortion that they are not coping as well as they thought they would. We provide someone to listen and to help cope with the trauma.”
A particularly vibrant part of the work of the Athlone service is the schools awareness programme.
“We want to make young people aware that there is someone they can go to who won’t judge them or their lifestyle or tell them what to do. It is very important to speak to someone, for lots of reasons, both physical and emotional,” says Ms Keary.
Approximately 230 delegates are expected to attend this weekend’s annual Cura conference, to be held in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone from today, Friday February 20, to Sunday. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Volunteering in our Times’.
The keynote speaker this evening will be Bishop of Killala, Dr John Fleming, and there will be a number of other speakers and workshops taking place throughout the weekend.
The Athlone Cura centre is open at Shalom, St Mary’s Place from 11am to 1pm Monday to Friday and 6pm to 7pm Monday to Friday evenings. You can contact the centre at (090 ) 6474272, drop in during these hours, or make an appointment to see a trained counsellor.
Outside of these hours, you can contact Cura at 1850 622626.
