FROM Divis Street to Divis Mountain and everywhere in between, West Belfast has built a network of health and wellbeing support that is second to none. Much of it began with a simple question: What does our community need, and what can we do together to help?
We know at grassroots level that health is about more than an appointment or a prescription. It is about having someone to turn to when life becomes difficult. It is about being able to take part, to feel welcome and to know that a disability, an illness or a period of poor mental health does not place you outside the community.
Across West Belfast, people are putting that understanding into practice every day. They organise walking groups, offer a listening ear, make space for carers, support people living with disabilities and help neighbours who are isolated. Some work from established centres; others gather in church halls, community rooms or the open air. Often, their greatest gift is to help someone take that first step through the door.
This does not happen by accident. It takes volunteers who give their time, staff who keep going when resources are stretched, and families who share what they have learned from their own experiences. It takes groups willing to listen when people say that a service is hard to reach or that something is missing. Our community’s strength lies in that willingness to respond.
As the Aisling Awards draw closer, I find myself amazed once again by the range of commitments being made across the West. I think of the quiet work that rarely makes a headline: A lift to an activity, a phone call after a difficult week, a welcoming cup of tea, or a group that gives someone the confidence to try again. These acts may seem small to the person offering them. To the person receiving them, they can change the shape of a day.
That is why I want to encourage every group involved in health and wellbeing in West Belfast to register and submit an application to the Aisling Awards. Tell the story of your service. Tell us who you support, what you have learned and the difference your work makes. If filling in a form feels like one task too many, ask a colleague or volunteer to help you pull the story together. It deserves to be heard.
An award is one way to recognise achievement, but putting an application together has value of its own. It gives a team a moment to pause and see how far it has come. It lets the wider community discover services they may need and people they may want to support.
West Belfast has always understood that we grow stronger when we look after one another. From Divis Street to Divis Mountain, that care is visible in the work of groups meeting real needs with warmth, skill and determination.
If your group is doing that work, please put its name forward. Let us celebrate the people helping our community to live well, together.
