The all-new Get On Board for Youth Mental Health campaign - a call to action to get youth mental health on the political agenda - was launched on 9 February, 2011.

Four national youth organisations are spearheading the campaign – Foróige, Inspire Ireland, Headstrong and BeLong To, because while we regularly hear candidates talking about the importance of investing in our young people, issues that matter to young people, like their mental health, rarely feature in debates.

Get on Board for Youth Mental Health (www.getonboard.ie) is an energetic and positive campaign with two big fronts, aimed at both young people and election candidates:

• Get On Board Online! Our website is the hub of the campaign. Young people are going to be able to get on board the campaign and interact with their candidates through an online map, which locates the details of each and every local constituent. Tweets, Facebook messages and emails can be sent directly though the site.
  Videos and photos of every candidates that gets on board, as well as messages of support from well-known faces will be constantly uploaded to the site so you can see exactly who is supporting our campaign.
• Get on Board the Bus! A new campaign bus hit the streets today- ours! We're going to travel to candidates around the country and ask them to 'get on board' with youth mental health - we might even play a little game of "Follow the Leader!"  The open-top bus wll be full of young people, a band and a camera crew, and candidates will be invited on board to hear what young people have to say.First stop DunLaoighre!

We want every candidate in the country to be asked, be it on Facebook or on the doorstep: "Are you on board for youth mental health?"

To join the campaign, find your local candidates in our interactive map, and send them a letter asking them to Get On Board!