Chair of Irish Hospice Foundation

I am passionate about end-of-life care and I chair Irish Hospice Foundation, a national charity that addresses dying, death and bereavement in Ireland. Our vision is an Ireland where people facing end of life or bereavement, and those who care for them, are provided with the care and support that they need.

Book Midwife to International Bestsellers

I supported author Lorna Byrne on her journey from being an unknown woman (with an amazing gift) who wanted to write a book (and had a great story to tell), to being an international bestselling author with more than a million readers in 50 countries, translated into 30 languages. This included working with some of the top publishers around the world, co-ordinating international media including BBC, CNN, Die Welt, and inspiring projects like bringing Nobel peace prize winner Betty Williams to New York to meet and talk with Sunni and Shia Muslim leaders.

I also helped Sr Consilio, founder of leading Irish addiction centre Cuan Mhuire to write The Harbour Within, a book of spiritual inspiration based on her life experiences.

Mentor

I delight in the number of different people I mentor, helping them to expand to their full potential. I particularly enjoy working with people who are in transition, people on the spectrum, first-time authors writing in the inspirational field and social entrepreneurs. Rethink Ireland has asked me to mentor several of their  fund recipients. In all this I am helped by my curiosity and by my training as a coach.

Catalyst in re-imagining a better world post-Covid

I firmly believe that we need to use the opportunity provided by the pandemic to rethink our future, that in the midst of such pain and loss we need to seize the opportunity this enforced break in our routine has given us to reflect and see our world in a different way. This has resulted in a series of blogs, an interview with RTE Radio’s show The Business, and facilitating online workshops designed to invite people to imagine a better world after the pandemic.

I was particularly delighted when musician and songwriter Eleanor McEvoy credited conversations on this subject with me as  the inspiration behind the concept for her Better Normal Concert.

Talent spotter

I am regularly invited to participate in interview boards. For several years I “paid back” my scholarship to the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium by sitting on their Irish scholarship board – always with an eye to supporting talented young people that would really benefit from this opportunity, and would use it not just to enrich themselves but to make a contribution to Ireland and to Europe.

Curator of events

Creating thought-provoking events such as 15 Toasts to our Grandmothers which sought to honour our grandmother who have had such an influence on shaping who we are, and are far too often unacknowledged.

Blogger

I was delighted a few years ago to be invited to be a HuffPost Blogger (you can read my posts here). While that platform is no longer  available to contributors  I continue to enjoy writing and am delighted among other things to be an occasional contributor to RTE Radio One’s A Word in Edgeways.