The Oak Healthy Living Centre is preparing to host its ninth Darkness Into Light walk, and is calling on the community to once again come along and support the highly-regarded event.

Taking place this year on Saturday, May 6, at 4:15am, and starting from the Castle Park, Lisnaskea, the local Darkness Into Light walk of the now international event will once again be a unique, early morning experience.

Beginning in darkness at 4.15am, participants are invited to walk or run a 5km route, finishing up as dawn is breaking, ushering in the hope and light of a new day.

Last year’s event in Lisnaskea saw more than 800 participants taking part, and this year, participants are encouraged to recycle their previous year’s t-shirt.

Patricia Flanagan, Health Promotion Coordinator with the Oak Healthy Living Centre, said she was “thrilled that Darkness Into Light will take place in Lisnaskea again this year”.

She continued: “The walk is an extraordinary success story, and we’re so delighted to be part of it.

“The walk is a symbol of hope, and we here in the Oak Healthy Living Centre believe that there is always hope, and that people going through a difficult time can get through it.”

As the Oak Healthy Living Centre is a charity partner with Pieta House, 50 per cent of the funding raised through the walk remains in the area to support the centre to deliver its health and wellbeing programmes, and 100 per cent of donations received stay within the centre.

In 2022, the centre delivered health and wellbeing-focused programmes, including focusing on mindfulness, weekly stress management sessions, yoga sessions, complimentary therapies, lifeskills, signposting referrals to counselling and other support services, and befriending and support for families bereaved by suicide through its SOLOS suicide support group, that meets in the centre on the second Monday of every month at 8pm.

Patricia added that while Darkness Into Light raises much needed funds, it is also about raising suicide awareness, and showing solidarity with local communities – all in a bid to support individuals, their families and wider communities, and to share the key messages of hope and support with all.

This year, participants are encouraged to connect with others at the event. Walkers or runners are encouraged to speak to the person beside them, to tell a story or simply say hello, connect and acknowledge one another. Make their presence – no-one should walk alone.

Lisnaskea’s Darkness Into Light organisers are taking registrations now for the event on May 6.

Online registration and further details on the walk are available now at www.darknessintolight.ie; on Facebook, you can also see darknessintolightlisnaskea; or alternatively, you can call into the Oak Healthy Living Centre, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, or contact the centre at 028 6772 3843.