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Chris sits down with his good friend Tom Conway for a deeply personal conversation about life, creativity, and resilience.  Thomas speaks about his love for his work, his passion for screenwriting, and his journey through cancer. Together they reflect on what illness can teach us about perspective — learning not to sweat the small stuff, focusing on what truly matters, and simply taking one step forward and keeping going.  This is a conversation about hope, friendship, creativity, and the quiet strength that comes from keeping going. See link below for ‘The Radio’ https://youtu.be/UTKN5gF_qus

I’m joined by Jennifer O’Kelly for a thoughtful conversation on existential therapy and its meeting point with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Together we explore meaning, values, acceptance, and what it means to sit honestly with the realities of being human — in therapy and in life. I really enjoyed this conversation and even after, listening back, there was so much more I took from Jennifer's insights.

In this episode of TherapyTalks, I’m joined by Jim Hutton, Chair of the IACP’s EDI Committee, for a reflective conversation about volunteering within the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. We explore volunteering not as an obligation or extra task, but as a form of connection — to the profession, to shared values, and to ourselves. Jim reflects on his experiences at both regional and national levels, how volunteering has shaped him as a therapist, and what it has offered him personally in terms of belonging, growth, and meaning. This episode is for anyone who has ever wondered whether volunteering is “for them”, and for those curious about the quieter ways community sustains professional life.

Chris talks with Ravind Jeawon, Jude Coughlan of the EDI Committee of the IACP and Dr Ray O Neill about all things Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as they discuss the upcoming Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference on the 22nd November. They talk about the power and privilege that exists within the profession and the importance of recognising this as we meet clients. Power and safety are important themes that were explored in relation to the work of psychotherapy. Another important talking point was the concept of equity and how for many people there is not an equal starting point. This was an insightful conversation with much to think about and much to do!!

Chris talks about grief and loss and shares his experiences of losing his parents and his lovely cat and trying to make sense of the journey of his grief using Worden's tasks of grief as theoretical navigation. He looks at the 4 tasks that Worden and outlines and explored his experiences and the ongoing ness of his grief. He makes the distinction between normal grief and complicated grief.

Well a year later we return....not the plan but life happened and so here we are. Chris talks about the last year and what plans are ahead, focusing on an episode in the next few days on grief and loss following the recent death of his Mum.

Chris is back from an unplanned break in the podcast and talks about all that has been going on in the previous few months and what the plans will be for new episodes. There was a moment in time when there were thoughts of stopping the podcast but he couldn't do it...

In a solo episode, Chris chats about Christmas and how to manage the stressful moments. He explores the perfectonism myth and looks at ideas of 'good enough'. He discusses different strategies to manage  stress and also explores deeper psychological explanations of Christmas from a Jungian perspective.

Madeleine talks with Chris about her journey from a horrific act of sexual violence perpetrated against her when she was only 13 , and how she healed over the years, and now speaks about her story and bravely shares her experiences, cultivating courage and shining a light on shame so it can lose its power.  She speaks honestly and openly about the impact on her life of these experiences and how she finally spoke out publicly in 2014.  She trained as a therapist and now speaks at various events inspiring others to speak out and break the cycle of shame that keeps people silent.  She has written a book, unbroken, and has appeared on 2 Ted Talks, and has had a podcast called Unbroken, healing through storytelling.  If people are impacted by what we discuss, see some support  helpline numbers available  National 24 hour Rape Crisis Helpline 1800778888 Samaritans 116123 Connect Counselling 1800477477 Text about it 50808 For a list of accredited therapists and psychologists  in Ireland: http://www.iacp.ie https://iahip.org https://www.psychologicalsociety.ie

Marc shares with Chris his journey to the world of coaching and corporate speaking. This is a fascinating discussion where he shares very honestly and openly the challenges from leaving Ireland as a child and moving to the UK,  his early career and how a chance bet, led him to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. This led him into the  world of Corporate Speaking events, Mentoring and Coaching.  Marc brings much insight the world of coaching and how framing his work in a psychodynamic perspective helps him to make more connections with his clients and helps them reflect more deeply about their challenges.

Alan Cooke, Emmy award winning writer and poet returns to the podcast to talk about his experiences of a profound grief after the death of his cat,  and the journey of healing he undertook. His present loss coupled with other significant losses in his life led him to travel the roads of Ireland meeting many people along the way and through shared experiences of loss and grief and connecting to the landscapes he started a healing path that continues and is bringing him forward in ways he could not have anticipated.

Chris introduces Season 5 and talks about potential guests and recaps on season 4. Also talks about his work evelopements in Galway City counselling and the experiences of being a Dad.

Amy talks with Chris about her journey that led her to start training as a psychotherapist.  She shares with Chris her experiences of having three siblings with Autism and the changing family dynamics and coming to terms with this.  She talks with Chris with honesty and insight and they talk about the impact of her early experiences moving from Co Dublin to the West of Ireland and the struggle of adjustment.  They talk about being sensitive and how valuable this is for the work of therapy but also how painful it can be.  Amy shares with Chris a family bereavment that had a profound impact on them all and how this and her brothers cancer diagnosis all happened at the beginning of the pandemic. This was a chat that was filled with honesty and openness.

Chris talks with Padraig about his years of working in positive behavioural support and applied behavioural analysis and his changing focus since the pandemic. He discovered the power of communicating insights from psychology in a way that people can understand and has since  worked with the media and has worked with different organisations utilising psychological insights  to support them. And then he became a Dad and chats with Chris about this amazing,  life changing experience and they share their thoughts on fatherhood and being first time Dad's.

Eylül joins Chris to talk about her life in Turkey and the challenges and pressures of a life studying medicine and not following her passion for music.  She shares with Chris how she moved from the clinical setting to Academia and her love of science.  She talks about the challenges of life in Turkey and about what led her to move to Ireland. They talk about the work she is doing as a post doctoral researcher here.  And always music follows her and she shares with Chris this ongoing journey to becoming a musician and her passion for music and for the written word and how  melodies and lyrics  come to her and and how therapeutic this process is.