Hello

My Story

My name is Siana and I live in a small town called Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland. I live with my 15 year old daughter and two cats and I work as a psychotherapist from a log cabin in my driveway at home.

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I moved back to Carrick in 2020, just before the pandemic. I was brought up here, however was living away for 25 years – so for pretty much all of early adulthood and into mid life.  Carrick is very different now to how it was in the 90s and, apart from my aunt, I had lost contact with everyone and everything. And so I needed to start from scratch. This was delayed by covid restrictions but I have gradually begun to build connections locally. 

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This move has been one aspect of a significant transition process which probably roughly maps to middle age for me.  It began in 2017 / 18 with me leaving Christianity for good.  While I’d spent most of my time on the outskirts of church life and had been "deconstructing" my beliefs for around a decade by that time , I’d held onto many values of Christianity within my personal faith.

This was also the time I left employment to set up my own private therapy practice.  Before this I had spent 16 years working for 4 of the largest counselling agencies here.  I had worked primarily with young people in schools and the community, as well as been involved in the early days of Lifeline which is Northern Ireland's flagship 24/7 suicide helpline.  Moving to private practice gave me greater autonomy and creativity in my work and the opportunity to specialise.

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Another significant thing which I've been working through at this stage of life was discovering and embracing my neurodivergence.  I've known I was "highly sensitive" since my early 20s and I was formally diagnosed as autistic in 2018.  I understand this might cause alarm bells for some people reading due to the common pathological associations with autism.  If this is the case, I ask that you consider reading my Neurodiversity page.  

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So, taking all this together, the combination of stepping out of institutional spaces and structures, moving out of the city and (re)discovering many aspects of my identity which had been denied and repressed has gifted me with opportunities to look at my past, present and future with fresh eyes. 

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Like many people in middle age I’ve also become interested in my roots and my lineage.  This includes my personal ancestry as well as more land based history and heritage.  I'm also actively committed to naming and engaging with my own privilege, deconstructing my internalised ableism and decolonising both my professional practice and my way of being.

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​​​​​​All of these processes have brought me a freedom I haven’t felt before.  I have begun to see

my creativity and out of the box thinking begin to bubble

up in a way they haven’t done in many years and I am -

tentatively - excited to see where that will go.

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I'm in my 50th year of life.  I still have lots of learn and I

can also own that I have some experience to offer.  I am 

keen to connect with openhearted people who

want to explore authentic connection within a circle format. 

I am a quiet person and about as far from a "leader" as

you can imagine (!) And I think we have to start somewhere. 

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Sometimes willingness and humility are all it takes to spark something amazing 

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