Welcome
I am Valeria (Val) Morahan. Using my own lived experiences and my Degree in Counselling, my aim is to provide you with a safe, non-judgmental space to talk, cry, laugh or simply sit with me. I specialize in grief and bereavement through the loss of a loved one or pet. When you think about it, a lot of life can be about this too; losing a job, marital challenges, moving house, identity, a
ging, illness and self esteem issues. They can be all losses of a sort. Working and volunteering in the bereavement, aged and palliative sectors has brought me into contact with amazing people. Their lessons and experiences have been of great value to me and I am forever grateful to them. If you are experiencing anxiety, relationship demands, stress, or difficulty navigating through decisions and emotions I provide a physical and mental place for you to be you. If you are struggling through depression, chronic pain and feel you aren't heard, I am here to listen to work with you to enable you to tackle these concerns. Remember, it's not the baggage we carry around with us...it is HOW we carry it. I use a selection of what we therapists call modalities and theories. Everyone is different so I intend to get to know your unique situation and apply what I/we feel can work for you. Look, therapy can be hard work. there will be days you wonder why you embarked on it. It can be rewarding, challenging, down right depleting, but it is my hope that what ever course we take together, you will emerge lighter, happier and more able to engage in life in a satisfactory way. This doesn't mean you can expect to be seeing me for months, years. Sometimes your situation may just need a tweak and off you go. What it does mean is your commitment. It's a little like giving up an addiction. If you aren't ready, well I won't drag you kicking and screaming. Why Broken Pot? No, it has nothing to do with the perception that people undergoing mental and emotional stress are 'crack pots'. It comes from the ancient Japanese tradition of Kintsukuroi, where a broken pot is rebuilt and in the old days mended with gold. In a therapeutic sense, a person who has been chipped away at, where they feel broken, they can be rebuilt. They will be different sometimes, their brokenness can change them. We seek to bring these broken pieces together with the understanding and faith that you are more valuable for having been broken. Our experiences through life change and remake us. The lessons we learn give us more value. And we can give to others when we are able. So this may mean that once we have made sense of our lessons and integrated them into our own lives, we become better friends, lovers, partners, parents and community members.
