Midlands Teen-Line call centre goes live after year long campaign

The new Teen-Line Ireland Midlands Regional branch was officially opened by Minister John Maloney last Friday, May 8, at 12pm in the Eastend Hotel, Portarlington Co Laois. After loosing her youngest son David (26) and grandson Trevor (19) to suicide, Portarlington woman Celine Knight contacted Teen-Line Head office in Dublin and started a year-long campaign to open a second call centre in Portarlington. Minister John Maloney officially opened the new branch, which will operate every Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 8pm-11pm daily in conjunction with the Dublin branch. The free-phone number is 1800 833 634 and with the opening of the Midlands branch Teen-Line have extended their opening hours by a further seven hours per week. After hearing Maureen Bolger"s inspiring story on the radio Celine phoned the Teen-Line free phone helpline 1800 833 634 to express her wish to open a Midlands call centre. She organised a local meeting in Portarlington and got a great response including a high number of people wanting to volunteer. Celine has lived in Portarlington with her husband Garretth and their five children for over 50 years now. Statistics show that the Midlands has the highest rate of suicide in Ireland and when her son David and grandson Trevor took their own lives she felt she had to do something to tackle this problem. Celine said: 'It has taken a little over one year for us to finally open the Midlands call centre and I"d like to thank everyone for their support with the opening and for their comfort at the loss of my son and grandson.' Teen-Line Ireland"s free-phone helpline can be contacted at 1800 833 634 or by email @ info@teenline.ie or through their website www.teenline.ie. Teen-Line need continuous funding to keep increasing their opening hours, donations can also be made through the contact details above or by contacting the head office @ 01-4622128 or Midlands branch at 085-2760336.