counselling

If you received your Leaving Cert results today, please do not let them dictate your future and the person who you are.

I cried when I received mine, and not …
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The benefits of a tidy and organised home are obvious.

Cleaning can be an outlet for energy and negative emotions. Removing dust, dirt and clutter from our environment provides you …
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Life can be hectic, chaotic, noisy…

It is so easy to feel overwhelmed by it all, no matter who you are or what your social media feed or stories say.

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Your self-talk is one of the major factors in helping to shape your identity.

Studies show that self-talk can improve your memory, confidence and focus.

Show yourself some kindness

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Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week starts April 29th – May 3rd. Maternal Mental Health Day is May 1st.

As many as 1 in 5 mothers experience some type of perinatal …
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Ardara’s Debbie Kremer is the Donegal counsellor for Nurture Health, a counselling and training service for women and partners dealing with conception, pregnancy and childbirth issues.

This World Maternal Mental …
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Visiting a counsellor for the first time is incredibly daunting and it can be really difficult. Many people will often think about making that first appointment for months before they …
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Confidence is something that (mostly) everyone will struggle with, at least once in their lives. Whether it is your confidence in work, in college, as a mum, as a …
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Valentine’s Day puts the emphasis on love for someone special in your life.

Yet YOU are the most important person in your life.

Why not make this day about loving yourself?

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Living with a mental illness this time of year can be hard. There is so much pressure pouring in from social media, society etc to “start over” or change how …
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‘Voices of Hope’ will see Sinead and seven young acts taking to the stage to raise money for the Raphoe Diocesan Pastoral Centre Children’s & Adolescent Counselling Services.

The 26-year-old …
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Anxiety is a part of everyday life for many people. Yet you may be completely unaware, as so many people put in a lot of energy and time in hiding …
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What is OCD?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental illness that creates negative thoughts. These thoughts lead you to believe that if you do not carry out a certain …
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Working in a stressful, high-pressured or demanding job can negatively impact on your mental health. This, coupled with issues at home, arranging child care throughout the summer holidays …
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Researchers found that most mums experience a significant dip in self-esteem after having a baby that can last up to three years.

This is regardless of the mother’s relationship …
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We all know how important self-care is for our mind and body. However it is very difficult to practice self-care if we are stressed and do not recognise that we …
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We all have anxious thoughts from time to time but sometimes these thoughts can be all we think about. They are intrusive, frightening, repetitive and hard to stop.

It …
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Over the past two weeks, Cancer Care West in Letterkenny and Galway has been offering information, support and counselling to women and families affected by the cervical screening crisis. This …
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Today is World Maternal Mental Health Day, May is Maternal Mental Health Month.

This is a serious health matter, that needs more awareness and acceptance. We need to be …
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By personalising other people’s negative thoughts or opinions we are allowing them to control how we feel.

Q. So how can we stop this?

A. By changing the way we …
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Rejection is hard for most people. Since childhood, we have looked for acceptance from our friends in school to our parents at home. Sometimes doing whatever we can and …
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“You will never speak to anyone more than you speak to yourself in your head, be kind to yourself”

When we are living with low self-esteem, it …
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Let’s do a thought experiment:

• Close your eyes.
• Imagine a pink elephant
• What shade of pink is it?
• Is it happy/sad/indifferent?
• Think about the pink elephant for 60 …
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• What are worries?

Worries are just thoughts and thoughts are not fact. They have no reality. Worries begin when we ask, “What if…” then the mental …
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As we all know from experience, making a New Year’s resolution is easy. Sticking with it and actually achieving your goal is not so easy.

New Year’s resolutions is …
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Any special occasion, like Christmas or any ‘first’ can be so difficult when you are bereaved, with each occasion such as a birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Christmas bringing …
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With Christmas getting closer, many of us will feel a mixture of excitement and worry. However, for those of you who live with social anxiety, Christmas can be a very …
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How many times a day do you allow yourself to stop, take stock and breathe?

Or do you carry on, listening to all those ‘mustabations’ (I should be doing this, …
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“There once was a girl whose happiness was tied to the sun. As it rose, so did she, and her smile was like beams of light. As it …
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How are you?

“I’m grand, yeah fine, I’m good”.

How many times a day do we tell ourselves this, do we tell other people this?

Have you perfected your mask?

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“Mindfulness, being present in each moment, without judgement”

So mindfulness is quite the buzz word at the minute, but what exactly is mindfulness?

It is defined as being …
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Today is World Mental Health Day. The 10th of October each year is dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and bringing together efforts which support …
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Mammies.

No matter what kind of day you are having right now, remember that You ARE enough.

You have bad days.  You have bad mornings. You have a short temper. …
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“October is about trees revealing colours they’ve hidden all year. People have an October as well” – Jm Storm.

Autumn is the season of letting go. I absolutely …
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Positive thinking focuses on the positive side of life.

To use positive thinking in your life, it is more than being aware of it, it is about adopting it …
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In last week’s article I focused on students moving to university and dealing with homesickness.

This week my focus is on the parents/guardians who are left behind. As a mother …
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 “Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.”- Sigmund Freud.

Through analysing our dreams, we can get a “glimpse” into the inner workings of our subconscious.

Dreams can …
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Today mums feel enormous pressure to be the ‘perfect mum’. It can feel at times like a competitive sport. This coupled with social media and the pressure intensifies, as social …
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“I am not boring or shy. I am an introvert. an artist. a lover. a dreamer. a fighter. a seeker”.

Introverted people tend to be more focused …
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Mental health describes how we think and feel about ourselves. Which impacts on how we cope with stress, face challenges, build relationships and move on from difficult experiences.Our mental well-being …
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“Comparison is the thief of joy” – Theodore Roosevelt

Whether it is keeping up with the Kardashians, Joneses or Facebook ‘friends’ we are always looking at that …
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“Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced…it’s that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. …
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Today’s article is about taking care of you!

After all the hype of Christmas and the New Year, many of us will feel a little low in January. We may feel …
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“Christmas, we are told, is the most wonderful time of the year. Yet for many it is a time of loneliness, isolation and sadness”.

Our society paints a picture of …
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“The  message I want to share is for people to not suffer alone. It is OK not to feel OK and it is OK to ask for help. If you …
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