Adolescents is a time of critical growth. Positive lifestyle choices such as a healthy diet and sport or excersize will impact on you into adulthood and old age. How do you want to write your story?  read more

The Harmony Program is part of the drug treatment therapy delivered to inmates on the medical wing of Mountjoy prison Dublin since 2014. Pictured at the recent IPEA (Irish Prison Education Association) conference in Portlaoise midlands prison is Dr Jane Carrigan, Chair of the Irish Prison Education Association and Roger Mehta, founder of The Harmony Program.

5 years ago today (23rd July) the world lost the raw, beautiful and amazing talent of ‪ Amy Winehouse due to alcohol poisoning. She battled with bulimia and dual diagnosis – coexisting mental health and drug addiction – for many years. May you rest in forever sweet peace…x

It was a privilege for myself and ‪The Harmony Program‬ to be part of the Fethard & Killenaule ‘Joint Community Awareness Forum’ organised by ‪Coolmore Stud‬ and held in Moyglass last night with over 1,000 people attending. Mental health & drug and alcohol misuse are so intertwined for many people. Its imperative both need to be addressed to prevent or rehabilitate people from addiction. L to R: John Leahy (Alcohol Abuse); Roger Mehta (The Harmony Program); Alice Leahy (TRUST Foundation); Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin (Mental Health & Anxiety); Fran Curry (Tipp FM) who chaired the evening; Nicole Ryan (Drugs Awareness Campaigner following the tragic death of her brother earlier in the year); and Alan Quinlan (Mental Health and Sport).

A section of the huge crowd that attended the Fethard and Killenaule Joint Community Awareness Forum

Cannabis: scientists call for action amid mental health concerns

Source: Cannabis: scientists call for action amid mental health concerns

Finally drug or alcohol addiction is being viewed as a medical condition but If REAL progress is to be made in tackling the condition then the stigma of being labeled a ‘drug addict’ or ‘alcoholic’ has to be overcome. It has with, with being gay in Ireland and is also slowly happening with depression. No one ‘chooses’ the tragedy that goes with the condition…http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/drug-addiction-psychiatrist-ketamine-gbl-mephedrone?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Mail

For decades the music and lifestyles played out by musicians of ‘sex, drugs and rock n’ roll’ has had a powerful influence and impact on society. The Harmony Program enables individuals to confront the true realities of alcohol and drug misuse by integrating drug treatment models with the same medium that has been misinforming them for decades, music.

In the song Swimming Pools (Drank), Kendrick Lamar compares the dangerous amount of alcohol that some people drink to a swimming pool. He raps about drinking alcohol to ‘fit in with the popular’, the pressure he’s under to fit in with his peers and how alcohol is used to attract women.