ATHY COUNSELLING & PSYCHOTHERAPY

Welcome.

The purpose of this site is to give you an idea as to what you might expect from therapy, and a little bit of information about myself. I have been working as a therapist since 2000, I began my career in London where I had studied.On returning to Ireland in 2001 I worked briefly in Dublin before moving to Athy in 2002. I work here full time in both private practice and on a contractual basis with various organisations.

My client base would be made up of both referrals from doctors and various professionals in the local area (such as solicitors, the courthouse and schools) and also either self-referrals through this website and by word of mouth from previous clients. I was also contracted to work with the young participants on the two part documentary programme 'Growing up Gay' commissioned for RTE, which aired April 2010.

Counselling is usually short term work, whereas psychotherapy is more long-term. Issues which might be dealt with in counselling are for example, phobias, some relationship issues, addiction issues, and workplace problems to name a few. Psychotherapy is where we work with what would be regarded as more 'deep rooted' issues such as, depression, childhood abuse, and issues around one's sexuality. Having said that, a person may come to therapy with an addiction issue for example, and find that the work there for them is more deep

rooted. Or on the other hand, someone may engage with the service having been bereaved, and find that they need far less time than they might have initially expected. In short, it is a lot easier to summise how long a person may be in therapy after their initial session.

Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed by our feelings about things which happened in the past, or our current situation. Often the two can go together, as when we have not been able for whatever reason to deal with past issues, they inevitably affect our day to day lives. My purpose is to assist you with expanding your awareness of the situations you are faced with, helping and allowing you to find your own solutions and to make choices that are beneficial to your life.

'Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.'

Carl Jung