Caroline Crotty

My road to counselling and psychotherapy has been interesting.  Having worked in London for circa ten years predominantly in the area of commercial property, I returned to Ireland in the late 1990’s and have lived in Cork since.  In need of an academic and a personal challenge, I undertook a social science degree in UCC (B.Soc.Sc. 2001-2004).  Following graduation, I began working with a Cork-based legal firm where I gained experience of working with people going through family, immigration and employment law difficulties.

That involvement, being with people experiencing life crises, provided an invaluable background to my therapeutic work with adults and adolescents.  Having completed a masters in counselling and psychotherapy (M.A. 2010-2012), the time came to take a leap of faith and I reluctantly left my salaried position with the law firm to concentrate on my private practice and set up clinics in Cork city and county.

Since graduation, I have undertaken a variety of training including CBT and EMDR, managing anxiety; understanding addiction; working with eating disorders; compassion-focused mindfulness; coaching; supervision; understanding drugs and addiction; problem-solving and process management; ASD; domestic violence; self-harm; suicide; sexual health promotion; smoking cessation.  I have an MSc in Psychology and in 2022 completed a masters at University of Limerick in psychological science (MPsychSc).

My goal is to help people understand how to be more accepting of themselves and ultimately be and feel content.  I work with groups to help safeguard and nurture emotional wellbeing. In one to one therapy, I work with people who have/do not have a mental health diagnosis.

The other facet of my work involves workshops, talks and training which allow me to reach a wide audience.   I promote wellness, wellbeing and positive parenting through devising and delivering workshops, courses and presentations to businesses, youth and community groups as well as to the education sector (to teachers and students).

I write for publication which promotes awareness of how to overcome difficulties that we all experience at some point in our lives such as feeling anxious, disturbed sleep / sleeping problems, anger outbursts, parenting difficulties, relationship issues, bullying, rejection, self-doubt, being self-critical etc.

I view my role in therapy as nurturing self-reliance, fostering self-belief, helping people achieve acceptance and effect positive change.  Therapy helps people to learn how to believe in themselves and in their abilities. Therapy teaches the importance of liking ourselves a whole lot more. This is accomplished through learning how to change unhelpful habits of thinking and behaving, by acquiring and practicing new coping skills; by accepting the past, making plans and setting attainable goals for the future.

From experience, I know just how good we all are at being self-critical.  We often deserve a ‘gold star’ for excelling at negative self-talk, guilt, indecision, shame, blame or criticism.  One person said he was “a dinger” at being hard on himself.  Another said the only thing he excelled at was self-criticism.  I enjoy working with adolescents and with adults experiencing self-doubt, anxiety and stress-related issues and being with them as they progress and learn how to change.

In therapy, at my Cork city practice, I work on a one to one basis with adults and with adolescents.  I work directly with parents of children in primary school who wish to make homes more calm and happy.  I alter my therapeutic approach to best suit the person and presenting issue.  My style of therapy is humanistic and person-centred which means that you know best for your life; that you are the expert on your thoughts, feelings, life experiences and difficulties but we all get a little stuck from time to time and it is helpful to offload to someone objective.

The person coming to therapy is best-placed to decide what to do with his/her life which means that I do not tell people what to do.  For example, if someone asks me whether they should marry their fiancé/fiancée I do not say yes or no.  Who am I to give that advice or instruction?  Through discussing the relationship, decisions regarding the best course of action are arrived at.

An important aspect of therapy is that I listen and hear what is being said and what is not being said.  Regardless of what I hear it is not my place to judge and I remain non-judgemental. Everything that is said in therapy (with some exceptions which I explain) remains confidential.  This is central to building a good therapeutic relationship – where a person feels comfortable enough to discuss anything.

I routinely attend supervision where I discuss clients’ issues but people are never identifiable.  I may discuss “a female in her forties who is married” or “a single male in his twenties” but names are never mentioned.   Supervision ensures my accreditation remains in force and that everyone attending is best supported as my supervisor has decades of experience.

In-person appointments for counselling and psychotherapy are at the Natural Clinic on Sullivan’s Quay Cork T12A2RH.

If you would prefer that we meet virtually we can have an online appointment via Zoom.

I may not be the best fit for every person and that is okay!  I refer to others for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapy works for the majority of people but it is important to find a therapist that suits you. Try to use the initial session, with any therapist you attend, as an opportunity to ascertain whether the therapist is someone you can work with, someone to chat with. Counselling and Psychotherapy are all about you, the person attending and what you want to achieve through the process of therapy.

Therapy can involve making positive changes, or it can be about acceptance or overcoming something difficult or maybe learning why we think the way we do. People attend for various reasons – sometimes, people want someone to hear and listen to their thoughts and gain perspective. Others attend therapy because an event has happened and need support in overcoming or coming to terms with it.

I am very privileged and love my therapeutic work, and of course, I also love delivering talks and workshops. No two days are the same – I’m very fortunate and grateful.

www.carolinecrotty.ie