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Month: April 2026

Every Journey Matters: Applegreen customers invited to support youth mental health this bank holiday weekend

Posted on by Ian Carey

Applegreen customers will this weekend be invited to support youth mental health by making a €2 donation at the till, this weekend.

This May Bank Holiday weekend marks an exciting milestone in Jigsaw’s three-year partnership with Applegreen, as the first nationwide in-store fundraising campaign gets underway.

From Thursday 30 April to Monday 4 May, customers visiting Applegreen locations across Ireland will be invited to support youth mental health and help support young people when they need it most.  With 122 stores nationwide and an estimated one million customer interactions over the weekend, this campaign represents a powerful opportunity for people across the country to make a meaningful difference.

A Shared Commitment to Young People

Earlier this year, Jigsaw and Applegreen announced a partnership under the banner “Every Journey Matters”, with a shared ambition to raise over €1 million in support of youth mental health services over the next three years.

The partnership reflects a deep commitment from Applegreen and its 3,000+ colleagues to support young people across Ireland. Since the announcement, teams from both organisations have been working together to develop fundraising initiatives, volunteering opportunities and awareness campaigns that will support Jigsaw’s mission.

This Bank Holiday activation is the first major moment in that journey.

A Nationwide Effort

Over the four-day campaign, Applegreen stores across the country will be fully activated in support of Jigsaw. Customers will notice Jigsaw orange branding in-store, and in some locations, there will be additional on-site activities led by Applegreen colleagues.

At the heart of the campaign are the frontline teams engaging with customers, starting conversations and inviting small contributions that will collectively have a big impact.

As Justin McDermott, Jigsaw’s Fundraising Manager, explains:

“This campaign is a fantastic example of how small actions can come together to create real change. A €2 donation may feel like a simple gesture, but across hundreds of thousands of customers, it will help us to reach more young people who need support. We are incredibly grateful to Applegreen colleagues and customers for their commitment and generosity.”

Supporting Youth Mental Health

Funds raised through this campaign will go directly towards supporting Jigsaw’s work providing free, early intervention mental health support for young people aged 12–25 across Ireland.

Every donation helps Jigsaw to:

  • Provide vital one-to-one support for young people
  • Deliver mental health education and resources in communities
  • Expand access to services both in-person and online
  • Continue building a society where young people feel supported and heard

Get Involved This Weekend

If you’re passing through an Applegreen this Bank Holiday weekend, we encourage you to:

  • Say yes to the €2 donation at the till
  • Show your support for Applegreen colleagues taking part
  • Help spread the word about youth mental health

Jigsaw staff, volunteers and supporters are also encouraged to drop into their local store, thank teams for their efforts, and celebrate this important first step in the partnership.

Every Journey Matters

This campaign is just the beginning of what promises to be a meaningful and impactful partnership between Jigsaw and Applegreen.

Together, we can ensure that more young people across Ireland have access to the mental health support they need—when they need it most.

Because every journey matters.

 

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Helping young people navigate big feelings: the PEARL research project

Posted on by Ian Carey

When a young person is struggling, it can show up in ways that are hard to name – snapping over small things, withdrawing, sleeplessness, worry that won’t switch off, or emotions that feel suddenly “too much”. For parents and caregivers, those moments can bring a mix of concern, confusion, and a very human question: What’s the right thing to do here?

That’s the heart of PEARL, a new research project being developed through a partnership between the Univeristy of Limerick and Jigsaw. PEARL is focused on understanding the role emotion regulation can play in supporting positive mental health for young people and the adults who care for them.

What do we mean by “emotion regulation”?

Emotion regulation doesn’t mean never getting upset, or trying to “fix” feelings. It refers to how we notice, make sense of, and respond to emotions, especially when they’re intense. For young people, emotion regulation skills can shape how they cope with stress, conflict, disappointment, and change. For parents and caregivers, emotion regulation also matters because staying present in a difficult moment, even when you’re worried, can help a young person feel safer and less alone.

PEARL’s research focus is simple and important: how can we better support emotion regulation in young people, and how can parents be supported to play a positive role in that process?

What is PEARL?

PEARL stands for “Promoting Emotion Regulation and Positive Mental Health in Adolescents Through Leveraging Parental Engagement.” In practice, the project aims to develop and pilot a digital, scalable, emotion-focused parenting programme designed to support young people’s emotion regulation and promote positive mental health.

A key part of PEARL is its focus on parental engagement, not as an add-on but as a meaningful part of prevention and early support. Many parents want to help, but don’t always have practical tools or guidance that feel relevant to everyday life. PEARL is exploring what support for parents can look like when it’s designed to be accessible, realistic, and grounded in what families are actually experiencing.

Built with families, not just for them

One of the most valuable features of PEARL is its participatory co-design approach. That means the programme won’t be developed in isolation. Instead, it will be shaped with input from:

  • young people (aged 12–25)
  • parents/primary caregivers
  • and professionals working in youth mental health and family support

This approach matters because families aren’t one-size-fits-all. Language, format, and practicality make a huge difference to whether support feels usable—especially when life is already busy or stressful. Co-design helps ensure the programme is meaningful, accessible, and informed by lived experience.

Right now, the research team is running a series of consultations with parents, young people, and professionals to help guide the development of the programme.

A partnership between research and frontline practice

PEARL is being led by PhD researcher Sarah O’Leary in the Department of Psychology at the University of Limerick. The work is supervised primarily by Professor Jennifer McMahon (Head of Department of Psychology, UL), with collaboration from Professor Siobhán Howard (UL). It’s delivered in partnership with Jigsaw, with involvement from Dr Jeff Moore (Research Director, Jigsaw Ireland) and Fiona Hughes (Regional Clinical Manager, Jigsaw Ireland).

This collaboration brings together academic expertise and the reality of frontline youth mental health work—so the research stays connected to what matters in practice.

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