Open Heart Buddhist Group

Director of Oscailt

Mary O’Callaghan

Mary O’Callaghan, MA, EAP, is the founder-director of Oscailt. Mary is an accredited psychotherapist and supervisor and has also been exploring meditation practices for nearly 40 years. During that time, she spent eight years living as a Buddhist nun and underwent intensive training in Eastern psychology and meditation. She has led meditation retreats in Europe and Asia and is passionate about integrating mindfulness into everyday life.

Mindful­ness Teacher

Barry Lee

I first learned about meditation in 2007, the year I qualified as a solicitor. I suffered badly from anxiety and work-related stress at the time and I found meditation extremely helpful. Initially, I saw it as something which helped alleviate stress however over time I came to see it as a way of life. I formally trained as a mindfulness teacher and a yoga instructor and began to teach in my spare time. In 2014 I took a one year sabbatical from work in order to travel and go on a number of longer meditation retreats. In 2017 after ten years of working as a lawyer, I took a leap of faith and quit my job in order to do this work full time.

I am a trained MBSR teacher and yoga instructor, (Certified Experienced Yoga Teacher – Yoga Alliance), and over the years I have also trained to teach a number of other mindfulness-based interventions. I am a director and member of the Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland, (www.mtai.ie).

I currently work with a variety of different groups including organisations in the corporate sector, universities, (staff and students), not for profit organisations and schools. In 2016 I co-founded Nature In Mind, (www.natureinmind.ie), an educational organisation which aims to help people improve their health and well-being through mindfully connecting with the natural world. In 2017 I founded Mindfulness For Law, (www.mindfulnessforlaw.ie), which delivers mindfulness training for people working in the legal industry. I am a director of Mindful Nation Ireland, (www.mindfulnationireland.ie), a charity whose mission is to help cultivate a more mindful and compassionate Ireland.

Mindful­ness Teacher

Carmel O’Hara

About Carmel

Carmel O’Hara M. Med Sc/Psychotherapist, MSc Mindfulness (UCD), Dip Counselling (Reading University), RN, RCN

Carmel holds an MSc in Mindfulness and is a registered systemic family psychotherapist and addiction counsellor for 30 years. She also has a background in nursing and has worked as a therapist with those with a cancer diagnosis and their families over many years. Carmel facilitates the weekly drop-in Mindfulness Hour at ARC House Cancer Support Centre in Dublin as well as running an eight-week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy programme at Oscailt at different intervals throughout the year, and she facilitates the drop in weekly mindfulness session at Oscailt together with other mindfulness practitioners. Carmel has been practicing mindfulness for over 15 years.

Other areas of interest to Carmel

Carmel is also interested in working with those who are in recovery from various addictions, and with their families and she runs mindfulness groups to support those in addiction recovery. She is also a registered supervisor with FTAI and she is available to supervise clinicians work as well as consult with relevant organisations as her working approach is working with people within their relational, work and environmental contexts.

Creating a safe space for those whom she works with is central to Carmel’s work as a therapist and mindfulness practitioner.

Carmel is also available to run days of mindfulness with groups, and having one to one mindfulness sessions for interested persons.

Registrations FTAI (Family Therapy Association of Ireland), ACI Addiction Counsellors of Ireland, ICP (Irish Council of Psychotherapy,) EAP (European Assoc. Psychotherapy)

Mindful­ness Teacher

Jean Barrett

Jean Barrett: MSc Mindfulness, Dip in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, Post Graduate Dip in Supervision, MIAHIP/ MIACP.

Jean has been working as a Psychotherapist for over 20 years in private practice while also offering supervision to individuals and groups. She works with corporate programmes in both the private and public sector. She delivers mindfulness sessions in corporate environments and is a member and facilitator of the ‘drop in mindfulness’ group at Oscailt.

Mindfulness Teacher

Eilis Cullen

Eilis Cullen, MIAHIP, MEAP

I have been practising meditation for over 25 years and value the experience and benefits of a daily practice in both my personal and professional life.

As an experienced Psychotherapist, I was increasingly finding the value of integrating mindfulness into my work and so I began studying mindfulness-based approaches at the Centre for Mindfulness, Research and Practice (CMRP), Bangor University, Wales.

I completed the Teacher Training and Certification with the Centre for Mindfulness (CFM), University of Massachusetts Medical School.

I offer mindfulness programmes to individuals and groups both online and in person, and, as a trained supervisor, I offer this resource to support mindfulness teachers in their work.

I am very drawn to the practice of Mindful Self-Compassion as a powerful resource for the challenges of daily life while also fostering a more compassionate society.

When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with family and the very mindful pursuits of gardening and horse-riding.

Mindfulness Teacher

Caragh Behan

I worked as an Adult Psychiatrist for 15 years caring for people with various mental illnesses including significant anxiety, depression, psychosis and bipolar and related conditions. As a way of supporting my own mental well-being during this time I learnt to meditate. This was of enormous benefit to me. This had a profound impact on the way I viewed mental health and I found myself increasingly wondering if this could also benefit younger people suffering from mental health issues.

My child suffered from anxiety, and I could see first hand the value of mindfulness to help her navigate a challenging period of her own life. This led me to train as a mindfulness teacher for children and young adults. I completed the training and was passionate about teaching this on a professional level to children and young adults experiencing various mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, ADHD and children on the autistic spectrum. I saw that not only was mindfulness helpful in handling the various challenging emotions, it also helped children and young adults to build resilience, to aid concentration and to experience a greater sense of ease and well-being.

Having completed my training with Connected Kids™, I subsequently trained to teach parents to work with their own children. I also teach people who are interested in becoming professional Connected Kids Tutors.

I feel so grateful to be doing this work as the overwhelming demands on children and young adults can be so debilitating, and I take real joy in watching young people connect more deeply with their own needs and negotiate the challenges that creating an independent life requires.

Contact Details and Information

Email: holdingcalmspace2020@gmail.com

Website: www.calmspace.ie

Mindful­ness Teacher

Fidelma Farley

Fidelma is an accredited Breathworks Mindfulness teacher (since 2008) and an accredited Life Coach (since 2016). My mindfulness and compassion practice, as well as my Buddhist practice, have sustained and nurtured me through life’s ups and downs, including family life and periods of mental and physical health difficulties. As a coach, I am regularly coached myself and find the process invaluable in keeping my life and work in tune with my values. No matter what your circumstances, I believe strongly that living a life that is meaningful to you is the foundation of wellbeing. In my mindfulness, compassion and coaching work, I help people to become more self-aware and kinder to themselves, and to grow, develop, thrive and flourish in their own unique way. I run courses and workshops (online and in person) in mindfulness; mindfulness for chronic pain and long-term health conditions; mindful eating; one-to-one mindfulness; one-to-one coaching and coaching in nature.

Life/Business Coach

Mari Kennedy

Mari has over a decade of experience as a leadership consultant, women’s coach, yoga and mindfulness teacher in Ireland and internationally. She has a warm and playful approach to her work which weaves ancient wisdom practices with contemporary developmental psychology, neuroscience and Integral Theory.

You can contact Mari via the contact form on her personal site:

www.marikennedy.com/contact