I am a qualified Supervisor & Psychotherapist in Private Practice in Dublin City-Centre.
MSc
in Psychoanalytic
Post
Grad Dipl Clinical Supervision @ TCD
Higher
Dipl in Counselling and Psychotherapy @ DBS
Cert
Systemic Family Psychotherapy @ UCD
Cert
in Addiction Studies @ MNUI
I provide Counselling and Psychotherapy for birth mothers & fathers, adopted adults and adoptive parents.
I worked as a volunteer counsellor
for Barnardos Post Adoption Service seeing adopted adults for individual
counselling sessions. I also assisted the project leader in parent training and
support groups for adult adoptees. More recently I completed my MSc
dissertation on adoption: Developing a
sense of self as an adopted person. In addition, my work in primary schools
includes engaging with adoptive and foster families around school and family
issues. Overall, I have extensive experience in working with questions related
to adoption, domestic adoption and inter-country adoption.
Adopted Adults
Some adopted adults do reflect on their adoptive status. Common themes adopted people would talk about in therapy are: questions about birth family, feelings of loss & anger, feelings of shame disclosing feelings about being adopted, feelings of not belonging, questions about identity, a desire to trace birth family members, questions hopes and fears about reunion, fear of rejection by birth family, intercountry/inter-racial adopted people may have questions about their cultural back ground, ethnic identity, racial identity or racism.
Birth Parents
The bonding process for the birth mother, who carried the baby
inside her during pregnancy and experienced the miracle of birth with
this baby, had not been previously acknowledged in society at large or
by the professionals working in adoption and mental health.
Adoption relinquishment involves a grief process not unlike other
types of grief such as death or separation. Sometimes the secrecy,
shame, guilt, self-blame, feelings of selfishness and loss leave scars
on birth mothers' self-esteem. Birth parents may struggle as they
re-evaluate their decisions later in life. Birth parents might feel
incapable of making decisions, feel unlovable, or feel unable to handle
having another child. At such moments, they need to realize that they
made the decision at a particular time and place, perhaps as a
vulnerable teenager without adult skills or resources. Restoring
self-esteem is an ongoing process.
Adoptive Parents
In parenting support sessions parents can talk and think about
specific concerns related to adoption with an experienced professional.
Emerging themes might be ‘How do I speak to my child about adoption?’,
‘When do I tell my child that he is adopted?’, ‘Are some of his
behaviours related to adoption? If so what can I do to help him?’, ‘What
if my child wants to find his birthmother / birthfather?’
I believe that thinking & talking about the concerns you have
with a trained psychotherapist can help you to start talking and
thinking about emotions, worries and concerns related to the adoption,
tracing and reunion with a trained professional. It can help you to
improve the the quality, contentment and satisfaction of your life to
emerge.
How I work
Psychotherapy sessions last 50 minutes. I charge Euro 70 per session.
My primary aim is to ensure a safe and strictly confidential environment for all my clients enabling them to explore, recognize and express difficult/distressing feelings, thoughts, memories.
Counselling & Psychotherapy is governed by a strict professional
code of ethics, and is respectful of all cultures, orientations and
beliefs.
