The Men’s Health Initiative have been working with men in Cappagh Field to build a grotto. This is the first project to directly engage with men on the site. Initially, men’s health workers asked the men what their needs and interests were. We felt it was important to get to know them and build up trust before raining health issues which can be difficult or uncomfortable to discuss. Dublin City Council had orchestrated a clean up of the site and the men expressed interest in building a grotto.
The men had no building experience around constructing a grotto and were helped out by other Traveller men from another site who happily lent their experience and help. It was good to see Traveller men from different families working together. While building the grotto we had informal chats about mental health and men receiving health checks. All the men said they would be interested in following up with health checks.
The grotto took 2 weeks to build and finish, building a strong relationship between Pavee Point and these Traveller men. This will be a stepping stone for further work with the men around health.