I’m a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach living in Ireland and Hungary. Before training as a coach, I worked as a human rights lawyer in Ireland and internationally for many years. Click here or keep scrolling to read more about my qualifications.
A little of my story
The first time I spoke at the U.N., I spoke to governments and activists about violence against LGBTQIA+ folks and urged the U.N. to do more to protect them. I was too nervous to turn on and off my own microphone so my colleague did it for me. I have absolutely no memory of what I said. The whole three minutes of the statement is a blank for me. The only reason I’m certain I actually did it is because I had the written statement, I had positive feedback from colleagues afterwards, and I vividly remember the roiling nausea, shaking and sweating I experienced in the hours (even days) beforehand.
That was nearly 20 years ago. Apart from the terror of being ‘seen’ by so many people, I was filled with complex, overwhelming emotions because I was talking about LGBTQIA+ folks – my folks. I was a newly out baby dyke just climbing out from under the shame and guilt of an Irish Catholic upbringing. This statement was one part of taking back some power. It was also a bloody, obstinate refusal to accept the limitations that my life-long anxiety and difficulties with emotional regulation kept (keep) trying to impose on me.
With the wisdom and knowledge I’ve gained since then, I have a completely different understanding of trauma, its impacts and how it affects our emotional and physical health. And I’ve studied and experienced first hand how we can literally build resilience into our behaviours and into our nervous systems. When we foster our resilience, we can more clearly hear our own truth. The intelligence of our bodies, our wise mind and our internal ‘knowing’ become reliable guides. We move towards what we want and need with easier flow, less resistance. We can allow ourselves to be ‘seen’ by unravelling the toxic shame, and finding the strength and freedom of our true voice.
For me, it began with information and connection. I learned about our brain and nervous system, and how trauma literally reshapes our physiology. I learned that what is traumatic isn’t always obvious: sometimes it is a subtle, chronic soup of stress that we are steeped in over time. I learned about intergenerational trauma, attachment trauma, trauma caused by systemic oppression and discrimination. And I learned that ‘mental health issues’ or ‘mental illnesses’ are perfectly understandable, human experiences of emotional, physiological or psychological distress. Often they are the clever ways that our system copes with the overwhelm of trauma.
But trauma heals in relationship. The greatest changes happened for me in safe relationships with compassionate, knowledgeable, non-judgemental people. Despite myself, I connected with a therapist who was able to sit with me at my worst. She wasn’t overwhelmed or appalled. She simply listened, gave me unconditional support and helped me find the tools and courage I needed.
From that work, I was able to, slowly, develop a network of people with whom I could genuinely connect and feel safe, including coaches, body workers and friends. The more people I found who felt safe, the more resilience I gained and the stronger I felt to face life on my own terms, with my own inner resources. They have helped me connect to my body, regulate my nervous system and my emotions, curate safety in the world, and experience the joy of sharing my authentic self freely with others.
Qualifications
I first began working with marginalised and oppressed populations as a lawyer and human rights advocate in 2005. From 2014, I specialised in working with disabled people / people with disabilities, including people with ‘mental health issues’ and people with intellectual disabilities (sometimes called ‘learning difficulties’). For four years, I headed an international legal advocacy organisation as co-Executive Director.
I have since decided to retrain, gaining a qualification in Counselling and Psychotherapy, and then becoming a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach. My passion is to provide my clients with the resources and safe connection they need to bring their best, whole selves to their lives and to this world.
I hold the following qualifications:
- Certified Trauma Care Advocate and Practitioner, Global Trauma Institute
- Certified Trauma Recovery Coach, International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching
- Certificate in Counselling & Psychotherapy, PCI College, Ireland
- MSc in Pluralistic Counselling & Psychotherapy, IICP College, Ireland (expected 2026)
- LL.M Human Rights Law, University of Nottingham, England
- Barrister-at-Law Degree, Honourable Society of King’s Inns, Ireland
I am also a member of the Association of Integrative and Somatic Sexologists and sit on the Board of Directors of the Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
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