A north coast mental health charity is to launch its first major fundraising and awareness campaign, with the support of the R&A at this year’s Open golf championship.

Hummingbird Causeway will hold its inaugural outing at July’s 153rd Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club where its services will be available to some 280,000 golf fans.

The run up to the prestigious event also provides the charity with a platform to launch its campaign #OpenYourMind.

Leigh Carey, CEO and founder of the Hummingbird Project, said: “The launch of Hummingbird Causeway is a giant leap in our development. It will allow us to increase our service provision to support even more people at their point of need using our unique therapeutic blend combining professional expertise with lived experience of mental ill health.

Pictured on Portstewart Strand are Leigh Carey, CEO of the Hummingbird Project, Dr Jimmy McAleese, Chair of the new Charity Hummingbird Causeway and Jill Houston, a Hummingbird Project Director of Services. CREDIT STEPHEN POTTS

"We are grateful to The R&A for the opportunity to be present in Portrush at this year’s Open.”

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships at The R&A said: “We want fans to have a safe, enjoyable, and memorable experience of attending The Open and so have a range of services and facilities onsite to ensure that the venue is both accessible and caters for a range of different needs.

"Hummingbird provides important mental health services to individuals and communities in Northern Ireland, and we are grateful its staff will be at Royal Portrush to offer advice and support to fans.”

The #OpenYourMind campaign will include a ‘mental fitness through sport’ art and multi-media project involving primary and special schools in the Causeway Coast and Glens area whose art will feature in an exhibition in the Hummingbird tent at The Open.

Mental health charity Hummingbird Causeway to offer support at 153rd Open at Royal Portrush

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