Jackie Furlong
Jackie Furlong, MIARM, is a graduate of UCC and is currently completing a Masters in the Psychotherapy of Relationship Mentoring. She is a trained Co-Creational Parent and Relationship Mentor- a therapeutic and Educational Practice rooted in Psychoanalytic and Psychotherapeutic Theories. My personal lived experiences of growing up in a time when mental illness was viewed as toxic, psychotic, Psychiatry was feared, medication and institutional care was the only answer. I have spent a lifetime endeavouring to find understanding and meaning behind the hidden voices of human suffering including my own.
I too have asked the question how do I bring safety to my world? How can I find my voice to speak my truth? Having found these answers within myself and for myself I now ask the question- How can I bring this sense of safety into community. For this is where I believe our growing together can make a difference. Helping ourselves to help others. Support ourselves to support others. When safety is present, we can tell our story. We just need someone to listen.
Patricia Barret
Patricia Barret, MIARM, Relationship Mentor, Support and Development Worker, Domestic Violence Project. Patricia is also a graduate of UCC and full member of IARM, the Irish Association of Relationship Mentors. Working privately and as a support worker in a domestic violence project has given me an interesting insight into the importance of psychological safety from both the standpoint of the client, practitioner and organisation. Our experience of safety is crucial to health and wellbeing at all ages and stages, more evidently at times of difficulty and suffering. Co-creating safe spaces is also essential to our learning to understand the dynamics of threat and safety. In my experience, safety is the cornerstone on which equality, empowerment and trust rest. I have a huge interest in co-creating and sharing conversations that explore psychological safety in our relationships with ourselves and Other.