The 2014/2015 RCSI MiniMed Open Lecture Series begins tonight, Wednesday, 29 October. On the agenda for the evening's two lectures are the topics of managing your mental health and living with leg ulcers.

These talks, free of charge to the public will take place from 7pm to 9pm and will be held in RCSI, 123 St Stephen's Green.

Ms Helen Coughlan, a Clinical Research Fellow at RCSI's Department of Psychiatry will give the evening's opening talk entitled, ‘Mental Health Matters: a guide to nurturing your mental health and to recognising and responding to signs of mental health problems‘.

During this lecture, Helen will explain what it means to have good mental health and will give advice on how to look after your mental health. She will also give some advice on how to recognise mental health problems and what to do if you spot these signs in yourself or someone you know. At the end of her lecture, Helen will talk about how to put the ‘five-a-day' for mental health and well-being; connect; be active; take notice; keep learning and give, into practice.

Speaking ahead of her mental health talk Helen said, “The aim of this talk is to encourage people to think about their own mental health and the mental health of people close to them. Mental health issues affect us all and none of us are immune to struggling with our mental health. This talk will reflect that reality and will support people to think about some practical things they can do to look after their own mental health. These things can include simple things like exercising or finding ways to reduce or to manage stress for example. The hope is that people will leave the talk with a better sense of how they can take control of their own mental health and how to recognise signs that their mental health or that of someone they know may be at risk. People will also be signposted towards a range of mental health resources that are available to the Irish public.”

Professor Zena Moore, Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, RCSI and Ms Julie Jordan O'Brien, Lecturer in the RCSI School of Nursing and Midwifery will team up to give the second talk of the night called, ‘Leg Ulcers - More Than Just Skin Deep’.

Up to 1.3 million people in the EU can suffer from this painful ailment at any given time. Leg ulcers taken on average six months to one year to heal properly but many people don't seek a healthcare professional's help in getting them diagnosed and treated properly. Zena and Julie will encourage those with leg to seek professional help and stick with the treatment plan.

Prof Moore said, “We want people to come away from this lecture with the knowledge that they are not alone in suffering from leg ulcers. They can really have a huge impact on the quality of life of the patient as they can become isolated due to restricted mobility and of course, these ulcers can be extremely painful. We would advise those who think they may have a leg ulcer to get a diagnosis from a healthcare professional. We will also give some guidance on how to ease pain from a leg ulcer at home.”