About

As too often happens my relationship with Art was negatively impacted as a teenager by the judgements and expectations of others. I stopped painting and began to follow a more academic path gaining a degree in philosophy and sociology. Whilst this area of study awakened in me what has become a lifelong interest in the human search for meaning, never the less I left university feeling empty and directionless.

Thankfully the trials and tribulations of life brought me back to Art in my late 20’s which slowly began to restore my sense of purpose and hope. I had to start from the beginning again, teaching myself about mixing colour and about creating light and shadow and how to use different art materials and media. It took many years of trial and error to develop my own style as I grew to understand myself through engaging in the creative process. The learning never stops.

My life was further enhanced by the humbling experience of moving from an urban to a rural location in my 30’s. Building a home in a field on the top of a hill without the services I had come to take for granted, presented many challenges, as did the ongoing creation of a four acre garden. For twenty five years I have planted and nurtured this garden. As the trees and shrubs have grown and blossomed so too has my understanding of the intricate connection between nature, creativity and the human condition, thereby informing my work and providing the perfect setting for my Practice.

Working as an Art facilitator in the Psychiatric services for over a decade gave me a great insight into the power of the creative process in action.  Anxiety levels were reduced, confidence increased, self-belief and interest in others developed as people engaged in creative expression. No matter how much trauma their lives had thrown at them there was an obvious holistic impact when people made art. It was clear that it was working on three levels- mind, body and soul, through mental focus, physical engagement and through the activation of imagination and individuality.  People appeared stronger, more purposeful, happier and more able to engage with their own life story, which is the beginning of healing. 

With this in mind I undertook a Masters in Art Therapy in order to gain a theoretical therapeutic context within which to frame the knowledge and awareness I had acquired through my own art practice and from my experience working in the mental health services. To support this learning I also trained as a shamanic practitioner with the Irish centre for shamanic studies.

These complimentary aspects of training provide the containment for my therapeutic work. Drawing on these different areas allows me to combine the latest research findings from neuroscience with the sacred wisdom of our ancestors, in order to support individual and collective creative expression.

In the USA and Britain Art Therapy has been firmly established for many years within the mental health sector however, perhaps surprisingly for a country so steeped in music and poetry, the arts have been viewed within the Irish medical model of mental health predominantly for their recreational benefits, whilst the deeper therapeutic value has been largely overlooked. Slowly this is beginning to change as the awareness grows through mounting research in support of the Arts as life changing interventions across all areas of Mental Health. Creative Arts therapists look forward to the day when a person presenting to the mental health services will be offered an arts based therapy as a first rather than last option.