Counselling Blog

February 2021

By Miriam Read More About Miriam When we think of February its possible that Saint Bridget's Day heralding in the spring & Valentines Day, known rightly or wrongly as the day of love come to mind. For me, personally I begin to reflect on my…

Lockdown 3: Here we go again!

By Mike Read more about Mike Lockdown 3: Here we go again! It will be over by the summer? We can handle one Christmas without seeing friends and family? I can’t wait to see the back of 2020? Sound familiar? I have heard these statements…

Christmas Self Care 2020

By Mary Read more about Mary 12 Self Care Tips for Christmas 2020 We are just coming to the end of an exceptional year. In our wildest dreams as we approached Christmas last year did we think we would have been looking at a year…

Loving Kindness Meditation

A Day At The Lake May I be happy. May I be well. May I find peace… These are the words I am saying Over and over I offer them, Every day I’m giving this secret gift - Whispering innocent, lovely blessings, Filling my heart…

A Christmas Friendship Reflection

By Josephine Read more about Josephine A CHRISTMAS FRIENDSHIP REFLECTION I can still hear her say ‘agapi mou’ (my dear). Christmas was her favourite time of the year. As she struggled to roll her cigarette, I watched her hands shake, knowing that it would take…

Lockdown Two: Another new normal

By Mike Read more about Mike Ok so here go again! As we reach the halfway point of the new lockdown I’ve already seen many people’s mental health being affected. The long days and change in weather have contributed to people feeling stuck indoors with…

Dealing with Guilt

By Laura Read more about Laura Over the past few months of working with clients, I’ve noticed that guilt has become a common theme in sessions. At some stage throughout the pandemic, we have all struggled with our emotions, our motivation, and engaging with friends…

Sex in the time of Covid

By Sarah Read more about Sarah The current global pandemic has significantly impacted all our lives in various ways. Alongside the obvious physical health concerns that Covid poses, we are faced with the negative impact of quarantines and lockdowns on people’s mental wellbeing, our interpersonal…

Resilience

‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts’ - Winston Churchill By Miriam Read more about Miriam Our journey through life does not come with a map. The landscape is full of high mountains, deep rivers and…

Working From Home: Make It Work For You

By Mike Read more about Mike In March many of us had to begin working from home due to the Covid restrictions. It was great, right? No commute, no overpriced lunches, roll out of bed and start work in your pyjamas for the day where…

Managing Relationships In Exceptional Times

By Mary McHugh Read more about Mary As humans we can be strange creatures. Most of us needs have an understanding about what may be happening to us and this allows for us to have clearer seeing with what may be going on for us…

Turbulence of Anxiety

Sometimes I wish a tornado would blow the roof off this house of anxiety and clear it down to the foundation when the clouds clear and the sun shines again I can rebuild a stronger house -S.M. Pastor Photo by Sean Calvey By Miriam Murphy…

“It’s Not That Bad” - Disenfranchised grief and Covid-19

By Sarah Culligan Read more about Sarah. A friend of mine recently experienced the death of an ex-partner which brought up a number of unexpected feelings for her. The typical grief responses set in-shock, disbelief, sadness, numbness. Alongside these fairly widely accepted feelings of loss…

In This Together While Staying Apart

Photo by Sean Calvey We are unprecedented times. Asking my parents if they remember anything remotely like this and they don’t. To see, not only fear in their faces but dismay and confusion is unsettling for me as a mother, soon to be grandmother myself.…

Middle-aged Technically Challenged Psychotherapist desperately seeks support with Twitter

As I sit to begin to try and explain how difficult it is coming to grips with the fast pace of social media. I am pulled between do I write about it or do I post a video. Which will get more hits. How can…

Achill Crisis

Photo by Sean Calvey Generational Healing on a Global Scale. Are we repeating the patterns of dis-ease over and over again? What is happening within the global brain? In 1894 32 Achill people lost their lives when their boat capsized in Clew Bay. They were…

Our Expats and Loneliness

Don’t be fooled by the mask I wear, that is the first line of a great poem by Charles Finn. We, as humans are great at masking what is really going on for us. We live in a very fast world where it appears to…

Contact Irish Online Counselling & Psychotherapy Service (IOCPS)