About John

I see life as an adventure. My adventure includes being a stand-up poet, acting, being a gardener, Buddhism, traveling, living in a rusty old caravan in a wood, working on organic farms, shamanism, astrology, yoga, rites of passage work with teenage boys, and most recently, being a novelist. Right now, which is always the most important time in life, my greatest adventure is being a hands-on, available dad to my young son.

Many years ago I became involved with a primal therapy community in both Ireland and South America. Here I experienced the power of authenticity, speaking ones truth and allowing all feelings (not just the pleasant ones), discovering that not only does core-centred expression lead to a richer, liberated sense of self but also it prevents who we are inside from coming out in a distorted way (somatic issues, low self-esteem, anxiety, relational difficulties, etc.) This simple insight felt profound, leading me to train in various therapies. I began training at the purely physical end of body therapy spectrum starting with massage courses, but the the deeper work kept calling me. I then studied transcultural counselling, and psychodrama and eventually Deep-body work with The Entelia Institute (Adv Dip) and Embodied Relational Therapy (Adv Dip) with Nick Totton, both neo-reichian forms of body-psychotherapy . Most recently I trained in Wild Therapy also with Nick Totton, an approach to working therapeutically outdoors in nature.

I have always been drawn to ways of working that allow expression, not only through words but also sound, touch, creativity and movement. Certain stages of development cannot be reached through words alone such as early infant or preverbal states. Words can also take us away from our feelings putting us more into the head, which is not always where we need to be, though equally, I do not underestimate the power of words and they are an essential part of how I work. I love this way of exploring because it’s creative and encourages the whole person into the space.