At a young age, all I wanted was to get away from foster care, away from the negativity, away from the abuse and from my abusive neighbour, away from a dysfunctional place and away from the inhumane conditions we were living in.

As a child I wasn’t able to physically escape, but I could escape some of the feelings by going into the field nearby and picking daisies to make daisy chains. I spent hours in that field, I felt safe from harm and it calmed me down. I felt sa...

Only in my world, is it a compliment when someone says to you - you must have been to prison? - as that person feels that I understand them, what they are saying and where they are at, to the point where I must have been there to “get it”. During a recent conversation in prison, as I was asked that question, I was reminded of how important that connection and relationship is for people who are looking at that...

My pain, it is impossible to measure. My pain is different to anyone else’s or is it, no one can answer this. I am going to talk here about my pain, what caused it and where it led my mind to go. If you can identify with my story, I hope you know that you are not alone. If you know someone that you may think is in a similar pain as me, rest assured there is help out there.

Did I wake up one morning with a blinding pain? NO!! My pain...

Going to prison back in 2004 was absolutely daunting for me. The whole thing was a nightmare and of course mental health issues were there. My headspace and way of comprehending things was at an all-time low. I met Sheila from the Cork Alliance Centre in Portlaoise for the first time, I think in 2008 some time, as she would say to me the meeting was a blur, but when I got released from Portlaoise I got a lift from the lovely Chaplain to Cork - to the Cork Alliance.

To ...

The 1st September 2002 - 15 years ago tomorrow - I started in the Cork Alliance Centre. When I say I started - I sat in the newly rented and very empty office, wondering what I’d taken on and what I needed to do next.... In that empty office space, with no staff, no manuals to work from, and the fear of not being up to the mark… the adage 'be careful what you wish for' had really landed on my doorstep.