Ailish Connaughton (BA Hons)

Hi, my name is Ailish Connaughton. I am a qualified Holistic and Integrative Counsellor and Psychotherapist, currently working towards accreditation with IACP. I first began working with clients in Vita House in Roscommon and in East Galway & Midlands Cancer Support Centre in Ballinasloe during my training. I know the fear and anxiety that can come with attending therapy or meeting a new therapist for the first time, therefore my aim is to put clients at ease as we meet and get to know each other. I provide a safe space, within Midlands Counselling Clinic, where the client can truly be authentic and express themselves honestly, all without judgement. I work with clients collaboratively and while I may offer various approaches or techniques, I invite the client to take from that what works for them as this is very individual with no one size fits all. I believe that people have all the wise and wonderful resources they need within, from where healing and harmony can come. Therapy can provide an opportunity to explore how their access to these resources may have been or may become disrupted at times. Therapy can also support the client to access these inner resources, from where they can begin to find healing, ease of being, develop new ways of thinking, being and behaving. This also leads to clients feeling more in connection with themselves and in turn with others. What I love most about this is that while it supports the client to overcome whatever it is that brought them to therapy, it also reassures them that they are fully equipped to manage and cope with whatever else might come up in life.

Prior to undertaking my training in counselling and psychotherapy, I was the Peer Educator of a mental health recovery college, only the second of these in Ireland at the time. In this role I co-ordinated and participated in the co-production and co-delivery of mental health recovery education modules covering a variety of topics under the umbrella of mental health, recovery and wellbeing. Essential to this role was my own lived experience of depression and anxiety. In addition to my BA(Hons) in Holistic and Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy I also hold a BA (Hons) in Applied Social Studies in Social Care and have worked in services supporting adults with an intellectual disability, some of whom would have had additional mental health needs. I bring all of this personal and professional experience and learning, along with that of living with chronic illness, into my work when I feel it will be to the benefit of my client.

Some of issues I work with are:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Self Esteem
• Life Changes
• Personal Development
• Stresses related to caring for a loved one or family member
• Living with chronic illness
• Cancer related issues

I invite you to get in touch with me at 087 7450440, or message me via the message box at the top of this page with a view to arranging an initial session. We can then begin to get to know each other, discuss your needs and get a feel for whether we might work well together within a therapeutic relationship.