So where do I begin!! Academically I hold a First Class Honours B.A. in Counselling and Psychotherapy, a Diploma in Mindfulness and Wellbeing, am a Master NLP Practitioner, a Certified Life Coach and Mediator and am about to embark on a Masters in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology in 2019.

My early career began working in the Entertainment industry both in Dublin and later in London. I have worked with an assortment of artists such as Sir Elton John, Goldie and B*Witched among various other high profile artists. In my early 30’s, I returned to Dublin and established the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charity in Ireland and was instrumental in the building of the Ronald House at Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

In 2005 I expanded my family by one with my son Seán, and in 2007 I had my second son Charlie. Being a single mother made me view my world differently as I was totally dependent on how my own mental health impacted on the boys. It was my passion for understanding how our minds work and how the hectic pace we live our lives is creating an epidemic of burnout that inspired me to change careers and my lifestyle.

I established a Behavioural Change clinic in 2010 and have been delivering bespoke workshops on Behavioural Change and how to combat Burnout to companies, conferences and events around the country.

I am regularly interviewed on my view point as a Behavioural Change and Burnout Specialist for newspaper and radio and most recently I was commissioned as an expert to work on the TV documentary, Stressed, which aired on RTE1 May 2018.

Twisting the Jar was born out of my my love of seeing how changing my own behaviour and taking full personal responsibility for events that had happened in my life. I liken this to the definition of Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The name Twisting the Jar was inspired by my mother. I vividly remember a conversation with her when I was about seventeen years old, she was by then well on her recovery journey after her ruptured aneurysm but still left slightly weaker on her left side. She was trying to open to a jar of sauce and didn’t have the power in her wrist to ‘twist’ it open. She asked me to and being the somewhat grumpy teenager that I was I grunted something negative in response, she smiled sweetly (I think!) and said, ‘visualise yourself twisting the jar open’. I did. And the jar opened. To this day, I use the same technique to open jars! HOWEVER, there are more ways to twist the jar open,

1. Stab the top with a knife and release the air,

2. Run under hot water,

3. Bang on the edge of the counter or

4. ask someone to help you!

The moral is don’t think that when you attempt something and it doesn’t work that you have to give up, look at the issue from a different perspective, try something new, ask for help, be open to new ways of changing your behaviour to get to your end goal or even your starting goal. When I work one-to-one with clients it gives them the opportunity to explore issues in their lives and see how previous patterns of behaviour may have been holding them back and what can they do to change that. Working with corporate clients I deliver bespoke workshops which can run over one or more days as well as delivering lunch-time talks on how changes in behaviours and communication styles can have positive impacts on our lives.