Psychotherapy, The Wild Atlantic Way

Joanne Hanrahan

Joanne Hanrahan MSc.

T: 087 713 3737

E:JoannePsychotherapy@gmail.com

'An Dún Beag', Liscannor, Co. Clare

Hi, I'm Joanne,

Thank you for taking the time to visit my website and giving me the opportunity to introduce myself to you.

I am a qualified Psychotherapist, Trauma Specialist (SEP), and Supervisor practicing in Co. Clare and am accredited by the Irish Association of Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP) and the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP). I offer a professional, confidential and non-judgemental psychotherapy and counselling service to my clients.

As an Integrative Psychotherapist my approach to therapy draws on over 25 years of study and experience. My primary influences include Humanistic Psychotherapy, Psychodynamics, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychosynthesis, Transpersonal Psychology, Somatic Experiencing, Jungian Psychology, Mindfulness, Nature and Eco Therapy. I understand that every client is different and use a combination of these approaches to best meet the individual needs of my clients.

While theory informs my practice, I truly believe that it is through the therapeutic relationship that real change can occur. Please feel free to browse this site and contact me if you are interested in an introductory session.

😄 So here’s a little fun I had in October!
🍁 A collection of nature noticing daily moments
☝️I downloaded the ‘1 Second Everyday’ app and chose the 1.5 second option
🌺 Now I have this mini visual journal of beautiful memories of my month.
🌻I consider myself as being very mindful and present to the rest of nature, and all I meet outdoors, but I still enjoyed this little project.
🐢 There are so many ways to slow down and notice!
📣 Sounds were often part of the experience!
🤔 Think how this or photographic projects could help build conscious connection to nature for you or the children/ adolescents in your life.

For the 18 months, I have been attending a small group Personal Training class in @ozonegymennis and my experience has been extremely positive. Joining and actually staying at a gym, has broken my lifelong aversion to gyms and my reaction has really taken me by surprise!

In many ways deciding to start in a gym is like starting therapy. We arrive and present our vulnerabilities and our insecurities about our bodies to the trainers without really knowing what to expect. Sport, and our relationship with our bodies can involve complex psychological processes. For women we are all too aware, not only of social constructs about body image, but that we live in a culture where, our bodies can be objectified and sometimes shamed, so starting in a gym brings added pressure. However, this is not just an issue for women, as many men also feel pressured to live up to a masculine stereotype.

Joining a gym had been firmly on my ‘Not for me’ list. At 52, hearing about the importance of weight bearing exercise for women over 50 I decided to bite the bullet. My short-term aim was to quickly learn about the types of exercises I should be doing to stay healthy and age well, and then promptly leave the gym again!

What I didn’t expect: Firstly, I stayed for 18 months! But more importantly, the staff seemed very ‘trauma informed’ in that they had a system where I could develop my confidence, improve my health, and feel physically and psychologically safe. Every age group, every level of fitness, and every body type was welcomed and encouraged with smiles, enthusiasm, and professionalism. Now at 54, I probably feel stronger, more powerful and more empowered in terms of what my body can do than ever before.

Heartfelt thanks to trainers @sinead.hehir @jafitness___ @markryan124 and Gavin O’Connor and to @kenomalley and Mike Hogan @ozonegymennis for healing some of my old psychological wounds!

🚸Schools taking active steps to help increase student and staff contact with Nature and the outdoors is a very positive move towards human and planetary health.
🌻Looking at schools through both an ecological and trauma informed lens was the focus of a webinar I facilitated this week.
👩‍🏫Invited by @irishschsusty and @escireland I was joined by over 50 Education Professionals from different sectors.
The talk flowed from;
🌿The benefits of increased connection with the rest of nature, to
❓Why this knowledge is important to schools, and
🌳How the outdoors and natural world can be included in a more conscious way in education.
📚We also explored examples of curricular integration and shared useful resources.

There was great enthusiasm and interaction from attendees.
🌍With the recent growth in Forest Pre Schools and the introduction of the new Leaving Cert subject ‘Climate Action and Sustainable Development’ let’s hope more school communities and their managers begin the important journey towards a more eco-centric approach to education and wellbeing.

I certainly felt amongst my tribe @kyriefarmie at conference on ‘Recovery Oriented Mental Health’, last week @royalirishacademy
Dr. Eoin Galavan first introduced me to John McKeon’s visionary plan to develop a Therapeutic Farm on a site in Co Kildare in 2021. Since then following the journey of the Kyrie Farm team and watching their enthusiasm, determination and drive to bring a revolutionary offering to Mental Health care in Ireland has been inspiring.
Last week’s conference was a wonderful opportunity to meet more of the team members and hear updates on the progress, and it filled me with hope.

Psychiatrist Patrick Bracken’s
passion to rethink and reform the mental health system was evident, as he introduced us to the WHO guidelines and government policy placing Kyrie Farm squarely as an example of best practice.
As a nature and health researcher myself, I was delighted to listen to Catriona O’Toole from Maynooth University introducing the research base for the project.
Ciara Glynn and her panel of experts by lived experience were absolutely inspiring and clearly spoke for the voices that have been missing or undervalued here to fore in the Irish system.

While planning issues and other obstacles have been part of the journey so far for this project, they are now full steam ahead at raising funding and getting the vision to reality. In the meantime horticultural expert onsite Nathan Jackson, is beautifully encouraging the magic of the soil to start its work - this is another heartening part of honouring a journey that, like the seasons takes time.

You will find out more and ways you can help on the Kyrie Farm website. If there happens to be any philanthropists (male or female inside joke 😄) in my network this is an ecologically and trauma informed venture to take note of!!
#KyrieFarm

Great to be back facilitating a session for the Extreme Networks Legal team this week. This was the second time that I was ‘zoomed’ in to join them at their onsite summit in San Jose California. Following on from our previous session on “Psychological Safety & Empathetic Leadership”, this time we brought our focus to “Mindfulness, Self-care and Work/Life Balance”.
It feels like we’ve cracked the system now at reducing my sense of being 5,000 miles away! Having a trusty assistant on the team, Charisse Cross really helped with getting the boardroom set up so that I could see everyone, and with gathering all the materials needed for the experiential exercises.
Great engagement and energy from this team and thank you again Katy Motiey
for the invite.

While I always need a physical copy, �I recently finished listening to the Audio version of ‘Imperfect’ by @katymotiey
The book, narrated by the author, is based on the true story of her mother, in the 1970’s. The story follows a young Iranian woman’s life both in Iran and the U.S. ending with the backdrop of Iranian political turmoil.
It is a story of loss, betrayal, courage, love, immigration and resilience.
While set in the past it strikes me how much of the context is still relevant in our societies today, mainly, inequality, patriarchy, cultural unrest and division. This book is also a powerful reminder of the legacy of our family history, and how it shapes us in our present. To me it is an invitation to continue to be curious about, and empathetic towards each other and to allow space for the narrative of the past to be voiced. What a wonderful gift Katy has given not only her mother and family but to her readers in capturing this poignant story before its detail is lost.
I would certainly recommend.

📚Having completed my certification in Transforming Touch Therapy early in 2024, I returned as an alumni to another wonderful 4 day training with @stephenterrellpsyd
in Dublin last week.

🙏This approach, which includes regulation focused interventions, helps promote health, build capacity and reduce the effects of stress and developmental trauma.
A truly nourishing few days spent with psychotherapists, psychologists, trauma specialists and body workers from Ireland, UK, Spain Sweden, Canada and Australia!

😄Sorry Steve I forgot to get a photo of you before you left for the airport this time so I’ve included an old one I had! I caught the team and a group shot of some of the participants though!
More trainings coming to Ireland in 2025 so check out Steve’s website for more details.

🌻�I hosted my 6th Nature Network Cafe this week.
Lots of lovely sharing of experiences on how Nature supports us in the co- creation of therapeutic space, and in our own lives.
📚Chiara Santin from @rainbow.communityprojects ow
filled us in on what brought her to write her book ‘Rewilding Therapy’ and we all delighted in spending the hour together.
🙏One of the group closed our session aptly with the Irish saying or ‘sean fhocail’;
“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine” which literally translates “people live in each other’s shadows”- meaning we are shielded from the sun by each other, we rely on each other for shelter. We rely on and build each other.
🌺A beautiful way to describe our evening of leaning into each other and sharing our Ecotherapy experiences.

💃Just over 2 weeks to go to my Autumn Ecotherapy Workshop and it is nearly sold out!
❓Fancy finishing off your Summer with a truly nourishing weekend in Co Clare and gain 16.5 hours CPD into the bargain?
🌺If so join me from Friday 6th of September at 10.30am to Sunday 8th at 2pm.
🌳This experiential workshop will be held outdoors in a wooded area in Ennistymon for day one and two and at my therapy room and garden on the Sunday.
🌿Start to develop your thinking about bringing an ecological lens to your indoor practice and imagine and and learn practical tips about bring your clients outdoors.
🌱If you are a Psychotherapist, Psychologist, Social Worker, Allied Health Professional or Community Worker and lover of people and planet this is for you.
🌻The cost is 375 euros for this very popular workshop and there will be a max of 8 participants. If you have questions email me at joannepsychotherapy@gmail.com

Sometimes by system needs time out - literally! Last weekend I spent a couple of nights allowing myself to sink deeply into my body and the body of the Earth around me.

This was my second time at the ancient Drummin Wood near Gort.

🛖 Wooden cabin
🚽 Compost Toilet
🌧️ Recycled rain water for washing
💧 Drinking water from a well
🪫 Very limited power from a solar charging point
🚿 And this time not even an Outdoor cold shower!

Such joy! Time to:
- Silently sit among densely growing trees, ancient rocks and so much moss!
- Feel the grass between my toes.
- Notice light and shade and its dappled dance.

I had human friends there too….
We shared, we laughed, we cried as we reflected on our inner nature and our relationship with the natural world all around us.

We had great fun!
- We sat around fires. We sang
- We drank Mugwort tea boiled in a tea pot on the fire.
- We played games from our childhood and got lost in our imaginations.

Sometimes we need to step away for a while to deepen our relationship with ourselves, Nature and community.
@ecotherapynetworkireland @crann.og.eco.farm

So much joy in the road verges at the moment! Don’t let your walk be just about steps and podcasts! Take time to notice! Meadowsweet, Blackberries, Willowherb, Knapweed, Montbretia, Ragwort, Purple Loosestrife and Fuchsia to name but a few! Take a photo and look up what you don’t recognise - slow down and orient to pleasure!

🌺 I recently read ‘Uprooting’ a beautiful memoir based on a year in the life of Trinidadian Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist @afroliage After studying and practicing in the UK for many years Marchelle’s move to an old country cottage with an endearing but in need of love garden, marked a turning point in her home coming to herself and the land.
✍️ This is an eloquently written piece, winner of the 2021 Nan Shepherd prize and recently longlisted for the 2024 Wain Wright Nature Writing prize.
🌸 Marchelle’s personal process of healing and embedding through her developing relationship with the garden is layered and gradual and she often likens part of it to the therapeutic relationship. Marchelle has a great knowledge of plants and at the beginning of the book I found myself googling their images but I soon gave up on that and just let my imagination join Marchelle on what seemed like a magical journey.
🌍 Big issues such as colonialism and life as a black woman are explored as Marchelle comes to her own inner peace in this garden and this book left me not only pulled out to my own garden and patch of earth but with much to think about.
🕊️ With the horror of what we are seeing in the world right now this is an excellent read for all who believe in the healing power of Nature and strive toward a community of respect and hope.

🌍 Are you a Psychotherapist, Psychologist, Social Worker, an Allied Health Professional looking to increase your knowledge of Ecotherapy and work with the Earth to help your clients?
Look no further, I have the perfect 3 day workshop for you.

🌿This unique workshop will provide theory, practical tips, and time to reflect on your own ecological mindset and relationship with the natural world. It will also provide you with many tools to begin to develop and imagine your own Ecotherapy practice, whether that is indoors or working outdoors with individuals or groups.

🌺This promises to be a truly nourishing and growth-full experience for you both personally and professionally.

🌳Based in The Glen in the grounds of the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon Co Clare and at my therapy room and garden in Liscannor in Co Clare the CPD workshop will run from Friday morning Sept 6th to Sunday afternoon Sept 8th and will provide 16.5 hours of CPD. Cost is €375 including tea/coffee scones on arrival, snacks and lunch on Sunday.

✍️This experiential workshop is limited to a max of 8 participants so take the first step now by emailing me at joannepsychotherapy@gmail.com

📰�Hot off the press! My first article on Eco Supervision has been published in ‘Inside Out’, The Irish Journal of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy.
🌱This is a reflection my experiences, and the experiences of my supervisees, in the early development of my eco supervision practice.
🌳It includes thoughts on outdoor supervision and online supervision with an embodied and ecological lens.
🤓The article is available to read on the Nature Therapy page on my website JoanneHanrahan.ie - I hope you enjoy.

🌿Lovely chat at my summertime Nature Network Cafe last night - providing space for Ecotherapists to learn from each other.
🌳We discussed Chiara Santin’s @rainbow.communityprojects great new book ‘Rewilding Therapy’ along with practical issues such as insurance for outdoor psychotherapy work.
🗓️I’m facilitating these cafes every second month. They are a check in, networking space for those who have attended workshops with me over the last few years.
💃 I’m really enjoying them!

💻�My online 15 hour Ecotherapy workshop was back over the weekend and what an enjoyable experience it was!
🇮🇪🇨🇦I was joined by two Irish psychotherapists and a mental health practitioner from Canada. We started at 830am Irish time Friday Saturday and Sunday which was 430am for Bryn but she was up and ready to go each day!
⭐️The small group size allowed for beautiful connections and learnings between us.
🌺As always with my online workshops there was lots of experiential process and sharing. We spent time with the rest of nature in our environments and celebrated all the much treasured and loved other than humans in our homes and gardens.
🌱Despite personally being tired after a very busy week of work related travel, facilitating this workshop felt really restorative.

🌿I had the privilege of being selected as one of a small group of European Nature Based Enterprises to showcase my Training business in Brussels at the 2 day @gogreenroutes event!

🌍This was a great opportunity for me to share my existing and new training offerings which include bridging organisational Wellbeing and Sustainability needs. My organisational nature based and nature-focused workshops are designed to integrate all aspects of the triple bottom line People Planet and Profit.

🦔 Inspiring conversations, developing relationships, wonderful learnings and the amazing synchronicity of being involved with the rescue and release of a trapped urban hedgehog (with Nicole Dunne from @howthforaging_nicole and Cathal and Aaron from @dublin_a_playful_city )
were just some of the highlights of my attendance!

🌱This was the final conference of the GGR Nature Based Solutions research and the beginning of the GoGreenNext Horizon funding focused on human and planetary health.

It is always such a pleasure to meet likeminded researchers, innovators and practitioners with environment to the fore of all they do. #naturebasedsolutions

An exciting weekend in Brighton UK �as I attended the launch of
Chiara Santin’s @rainbow.communityprojects
new book ‘Rewilding Therapy’. I had the honour of reading an advance copy and writing an endorsement for the publication. Ecotherapy is my passion so an endorsement is not something I take lightly. However this book is thoroughly deserving as you will see from my write up…

It is with great enthusiasm and gratitude I welcome and endorse “Rewilding Therapy”. As an Ecotherapist who has researched and brought my Psychotherapy, Supervision and group facilitation practice outdoors over the last 10 years, I believe this book is a wonderful addition to the literature in the field. Chiara, expertly weaves an impressive depth of academic reading, with her own personal natural growthstory. Her poetry and reflections, along with her sharing of vignettes from her work with individuals, couples, families and community groups outdoors, are a gift to the reader. In addition, her Ecosystemic model offers a theoretical framework for psychotherapists from all modalities to consider their ecological practice. Chiara’s inspiring book is a book of hope. It encourages us to “rethink, re-vision, re-landscape mental health services” and reminds us that working, for the good of people and planet “together we are not a tree, we are a forest”.

☕️Morning coffee today on my 54th birthday and celebrating last night. I delight in every birthday - every year of love, health and privilege on this beautiful Earth.
Today is also Father’s Day and I remember by dad who also had a June birthday and died a few days after his 55th birthday 25 years ago this week.
💃 So let’s rejoice in the miracle of our bodies while they do all that they were created to do and embrace every age with joy.

Last week I was delighted to be engaged by @clare_local_dev
to present in Lisdoonvarna and Ennis to groups of volunteers who work with immigrants. The topic was ‘Understanding trauma and the Importance of Self Care’. I really enjoyed the conversations with these amazing people who are doing such wonderful work on the ground in Clare.
It is great to see CLDC actively develop as a Trauma Informed Organisation.
They first contracted me to work with their staff in 2022. At that time it was a privilege to meet staff who work with refugees, asylum seekers, homeless, marginalised groups and all those in Clare simply needing a hand.

🌿Lovely to again welcome psychotherapists from Ireland and the UK this evening to my 4th Nature Network Cafe.
🌳The small group made it an ideal occasion to chat about some of the practicalities of working outdoors with clients.
🌸I find the swoping of ideas and resources in these groups really helps us all feel less isolated in our Ecotherapy practices.
🗓️I’m facilitating these cafes every second month. They are a check in, networking space for those who have attended workshops with me over the last few years.
💃I have to say I’m really enjoying them!

I was honoured to be invited to present at the @iacp.ie Supervisors Forum in Athlone last Saturday. I delivered a full day workshop to 90 Clinical Supervisors on a topic which I am very passionate about - bringing an Ecological lens to Supervisory Practice. With a growing number of therapists working in and with nature, and a future set to hold increasing climate related distress, it is imperative that we see our work in health and wellbeing in the context of the wider eco-system. Thank you to @pauline.bradley.716 & @patrickharraghy
and the rest of the IACP supervisors committee for inviting me to share my work and experience.
🌍I believe this is a step towards changing the discourse on the importance of interconnectivity and our place in the environment.

😄Woohoo! All these arrived this week! Summer reads
💃When I buy books it’s often in bulk, and I just get so excited when they arrive.
🎧I’ve already listened to the audio versions of @findingnature_ Miles Richardson’s, Gabor Maté, and Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone books but they were a must to have in paper too.
🌍Myself and @rustmaryjayne spoke at a ‘Psychotherapy in the Natural World’ conference together a few years ago and her book has been on by wish list for some time now.
🌳I did a Ecotherapy training with
@em_linford also some time back. She has a chapter in Wild Service so that came into my radar.
🌻I’ve never met @drrochellecalvert but she is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who works with nature like myself, so looking forward to that one.
🌿The writings of @intuitionphysician Laura Koniver Margaret Kerr and Jana Lemke, @afroliage Marchelle Farrell and Sarah Spencer @thinklikeatree 🌳 all came into my awareness either through academic citing or spotting something of them online.

Hope this selection gives you some reading ideas.
🌸Now all I need is some downtime!

In typical therapist form I was reeled in to this book by its title …. and then I was hooked! This is a memoir by actor @jennettemccurdy . I found it to be a very powerful, and a wonderful insight into the development of a child based a mother’s words and behaviour. Jennette writes with a remarkable fluency and clarity. She speaks from her inner voice and speaks of her reality. It is a story of memories, thoughts, confusing emotions from early childhood to adulthood. A story of emotional and physical abuse. It tells of how a young child develops when her needs are not met and when hyper vigilance to her mother’s needs and responses seem essential. Conditioned to believe that any boundary Jennette wanted was a betrayal of her mother, this book highlights the devastating effects of developmental trauma.
As a therapist what struck me most about this book, is, that while one might consider Jennette’s relationship with her mother as high on the dysfunctional scale, the effects of much more subtle, and often unconscious, manipulation and control on the part of a parent can led to extremely unhealthy or crippling outcomes.
I listened to this on Audible and it is narrated beautifully by the author which I think really added something very poignant to the sharing of her story.

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