Biography

Biography

Carina lives in Wexford with her husband Brian and two children. During her career break from secondary school teaching, she self-published her debut novel To Have, Not Hold in 2016, which received astonishing reviews. She was in the middle of writing the sequel to her novel when she felt compelled to stop and address a serious epidemic that is occurring worldwide right now. Children’s anxiety! This was something she struggled with as a child and as a parent she came head to head with it again when her own daughter displayed the same signs of anxiety. Carina became a qualified clinical hypnotherapist & psychotherapist while also teaching geography, C.S.P.E, S.P.H.E & business and used many techniques on helping her daughter manage her anxieties. The experience of helping her own daughter drove her desire to learn more about children’s psychological development and ways to help when they can’t seem to deal with their emotions. She is extremely proud of both her daughters and the confidence they have gained in their own abilities to manage their emotions and indeed life! Carina felt that it was important to put all of her knowledge around children’s anxiety into a set of books for both children and adults, to help both understand and manage anxiety better. She feels that children, parents, teachers and society even, needs answers NOW on how to deal with anxiety. With the mental health crisis we seem to have in Ireland alone, with thousands of children attending GP appointments weekly for ‘mental health’ reasons, we simply need to do something! Carina’s passion to help children and help parents comes from her own experience and her own knowledge of what happens when children’s anxiety goes unaddressed. She suffered severe mental health issues in her teens and early adult hood, while her parents done their best to support her in a society where mental health was not even dared mentioned. Carina is passionate about speaking out about her experiences because she believes that the more we hear, the more we talk and the more we talk, the less of a stigma mental health will be! She is now working with parents to help their children overcome anxiety issues. Due to the response and interest in Carina’s books around children’s anxiety, she speaks monthly on South East Radio, as their children’s anxiety expert. She will finish her second novel someday sooooooooon …..

Credentials

BA Sociology, Geography and Economics

Higher diploma in Education

Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy

QQI Level 6 Child Psychology

Practitioners Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Practitioners Course in Neuro Linguistic Programming

Let my experience help you …

How relieved do we feel in life when someone says ‘I know how you feel’?

How safe do we feel when someone says ‘I’ve been there too, you’re not alone’?

How normal and good does it feel when someone says ‘It’s okay to feel the way you do right now! And, when you are ready to let go of all that heaviness dragging you down, let me show you how…’

Those above questions and many more like them are my drive to helping kids, teens and parents overcome those highly charged emotional responses to life.

Anxiety in particular is such an epidemic in this modern world that is touching the lives of so many families. And from my own experience of a child struggling with anxiety, I know all too well the implications of this anxiety not being addressed. My anxiety was not picked up because there was no such thing as ‘child anxiety’ back thirty years ago! There was no such thing as even a discussion around it. There was nowhere for my parents to go to ask for help and support. I was considered a sensitive child and that was it.

My sensitivities however, grew into extreme teen anxiety, exam anxiety, depression, OCD, social phobia, self-harm and a fear of not being perfect. Can you imagine the lack of confidence I had around that last one.

I have spent many years of my life trying to ‘cure’ myself. Trying to rid myself of anxiety, depression and all the other issues that came with them. Then after many courses, many books and a lot of research, I finally found the ‘cure’. There is none! But that realisation in itself ‘cured’ me!! Because I realised that I am me, I will always be that sensitive soul. I came to realise that that was okay! It was more than okay, because with my sensitive soul came so many great qualities that I was finally allowed to accept. My caring, kind, passionate qualities that propel my determination to help others who may not know it’s okay yet! That it is okay to feel anxious, depressed, angry, hurt, imperfect and so on. I want to help people take that guilt off themselves, that uncertainly of why they feel that way, that longing to be ‘normal’, that need to be perfect just to be good enough!

And when people reach that place where they realise it is okay to feel the way you do, they can then finally release the pressure. They can then learn a different way of thinking, of feeling and of acting. It becomes a new way of life for the rest of their life.

Old thinking, feeling and behaviour patterns are left behind as they are no longer needed! The anxiety, the depression, the anger, the hurt, the guilt, the imperfection … can be dealt with head on with a new sense of self-control, self-awareness and self-love.

My own personal struggles and ultimate break throughs have led me through all of this process of learning to let go of all the heaviness that was dragging me down. And it is that experience and that knowledge and belief in my own capabilities and in you and your child’s capabilities that makes me want to help guide you, your child and your family.

Let me leave you with this … if you are struggling at the moment, as a teen, as a young adult, as a parent or even a parent of an anxious child …

‘I know how you feel’?

‘I’ve been there too, you’re not alone’?

‘It’s okay to feel the way you do right now! And, when you are ready to let go of all that heaviness dragging you down, let me show you how…’