Our Brave Hearts

Our Brave Hearts Perinatal Psychotherapist and Matrescence Coach The articles I read were all related to motherhood and I felt as though the writer spoke directly to me.

If you’re reading this, it tells me that you would like to know a little more about me and how I got to where I am now i.e being a life coach and a Demartini Method Facilitator who works with mothers. I personally always love to read about someone I am in interested in following online or working with, I hope you enjoy what you read here on my page and feel free to message me if you have any questions regarding what I do. The night before a work conference that my husband had helped organise began, I was online (nothing new there) and I cant remember exactly what it was that I was reading, but I stumbled upon the most beautiful blog that set fireworks off in my heart and mind (there were a few tears as well, I can assure you). I didn’t sleep much that night as I stayed up very late reading what felt like EVERYTHING on this woman’s blog. I felt different when I woke up and as the day and evening and then weekend progressed, I knew something inside of me had changed and could no longer be ignored. It was as if all of a sudden I could see what had always been there, the blinkers were gone. I spoke to a mother of two children during a break in the conference and we connected as only mothers can, we shared our birth stories both brutal and beautiful. I listened to stories of a mother who did not want to go to a party because she felt that she would have nothing of interest to add to the conversation as she was ‘just’ a stay at home mum, and of a wife who questioned her value in terms of what she could contribute to a family business, she was also a stay at home mum at that particular time. There was an amazing woman who told me that she felt torn between happiness and guilt because she enjoyed going to work as she was getting a break from her children for a while. It was as if the universe was talking to me. I began to remember conversations of other women I had met over the years since I had become a mother. All of these women, myself included, had a story to tell. Some of these stories were painful to listen to as they confessed how difficult they were finding motherhood, or how going back to work had left them heartbroken or relieved, either way both options left the mother consumed by guilt. Other stories made me cry with laughter as I was regaled with episodes of exploding nappies, leaking breasts at the most inappropriate times and the madness that had kicked in due to lack of sleep. There are so many reasons to feel connected to one another and yet so many of us feel alone. I researched how I could interact with mothers in such a tangible way that would allow me to help them change their lives. Since then I have completed my advanced diploma in personal coaching and have set up my coaching business, Our Brave Hearts. I have also completed The Demartini Method Training Program and I am now a Demartini Method Facilitator. The Demartini Method developed by Dr. John Demartini is a scientific process that balances perceptions and emotions. It is being used professionally by many psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, educators, consultants and health professionals across the world. The Demartini Method is a tool with a 1000 uses for empowering and inspiring life and its applications include reducing stress, resolving conflict and creating new perspectives and paradigms for life. So now you know a little bit about me and how I came to be in this position of reaching out to women. How can I help you? Is there something on your mind that you haven’t told anyone about and it feels heavy to carry this around all the time? Are you struggling with the day to day reality of motherhood and trying to balance a career as well?Would you like some help to clarify what it is that you want for yourself right now? It can be so difficult to honour our needs when we aren’t even sure what they really are. You’re not alone. I’ll be here, ready to meet you half way and recognise your Brave Heart.

These are not the stories of motherhood we hear about before having children.You won’t hear much, if any, of these mothe...
11/03/2026

These are not the stories of motherhood we hear about before having children.

You won’t hear much, if any, of these motherhood tales in the best selling books we all buy to help us prepare for becoming a mum.

I imagined I would love my children.

What I had no idea about was that with such great
love comes other intense feelings such as loss and rage and fear and loneliness.

We can talk about our love but we are encouraged to not speak of hate and anger and ambivalence and despair.

For a long time, I tried to mold my experience of motherhood into what I thought it should be.

I tried to make myself into the mother I thought I should
be, the mother that society enocuraged me to be.

Then I heard the term matrescence and my understanding of what happened to me when I became a mother completely changed.

Have you heard of the term matrescence?

These are not the stories of motherhood we hear about before having children.You won’t hear much, if any, of these mothe...
11/03/2026

These are not the stories of motherhood we hear about before having children.

You won’t hear much, if any, of these motherhood tales in the best selling books we all buy to help us prepare for becoming a mum.

I imagined I would love my children,.

What I had no idea of was that with such great
love also comes other intense feelings such as loss and rage and fear.

We can talk about our love but we are encouraged to not speak of hate and anger and boredom and loneliness.

For a long time, I tried to mold my experience of motherhood into what I thought it should be.

I tried to make myself into the mother I thought I should
be, the mother that society enocuraged me to be and sits somewhere deep within my belief system.

Then I heard the term matrescence and my understanding of what happened to me when I became a mother completely changed.

Have you heard of the term matrescence?

10/03/2026

Next Monday I’ll be hosting an ‘Our Brave Hearts’ Reading Circle ❤️

On Monday 16th at 1pm ⏰ I’ll be holding a gentle online space for mothers who would like to come together and talk about a passage from Our Brave Hearts that has stayed with them.

Since the book came out, one of the things I’ve loved most is hearing from mothers about the lines that made them pause. A paragraph that helped something make sense. A page that put words to a feeling they had been carrying but perhaps hadn’t named yet.

This book isn’t meant to be read once and placed on a shelf, but returned to time and time again, a page here and there. And this circle will simply be a space to explore that together.

If you’d like to join, you’re welcome to bring a line, a passage, even a page from the book that resonated with you and share what it stirred or helped you see more clearly about your own experience of motherhood.

I’ll hold the space as a mother, as someone who works with matrescence, and as an accredited psychotherapist.

My role will simply be to guide the conversation and make sure it remains a thoughtful and respectful space for everyone.

You’re very welcome to simply listen if you prefer, there’s no pressure to share ❤️

If you’d like to come along, just leave a comment below or send me a DM if that’s more comfortable for you, and I’ll send you the Zoom details.

In love and solidarity,

Jacqueline x

Over the years, I’ve sat with many mothers who feel quietly confused by this.They love their children fiercely AND somet...
02/03/2026

Over the years, I’ve sat with many mothers who feel quietly confused by this.

They love their children fiercely AND something about motherhood feels heavier, lonelier, than they expected.

The shame often arrives quickly and ferociously.

As if loving your children should cancel out exhaustion.

As if devotion should eclipse resentment.

As if gratitude should dissolve loneliness.

But loving your children is relational. Motherhood is structural.

Read those two lines again (it took me years to really understand the difference).

Motherhood is structural because it’s lived inside expectations, invisible labour, economic pressure, cultural ideals, and the constant recalibration of who you are allowed to be now.

When those conditions feel hard, it doesn’t mean your love is insufficient. It doesn’t mean you’re failing.

It means the structure you’re working with is demanding in ways you never imagined.

Naming this friction doesn’t make you ungrateful.
It’s honesty.

Oh, motherhood,When I first wrote this years ago, I thought I was admitting something flawed about myself.The impatience...
27/02/2026

Oh, motherhood,

When I first wrote this years ago, I thought I was admitting something flawed about myself.

The impatience.
The anger.
The losing of my s**t.

Now I hear it every week in the therapy room.

“So much guilt and shame.”
“The anger is a big one.”
“Am I becoming my own mother?”
“Why does this feel so heavy?”

So many capable women quietly believing they are failing.

Many of us were never taught how to hold our anger. We were taught it was unladylike. That it was too much, that we were too much.

Then we entered motherhood, one of the most stretching roles there is, carrying all of that conditioning with us.

Of course it hits hard.

Of course it feels shameful at times.

But shame thrives in silence.

You are not a monster.
You are not broken.
You are not the only one meeting parts of yourself that feel confronting.

In becoming a mother, you will meet more of yourself.

If this resonates, you are not alone.

25/02/2026

Any of this sound familiar? You’re getting through the days.

You’re working. Parenting. Responding. Holding it all together.

From the outside, nothing looks wrong. And yet something feels unfamiliar. Heavy. Off. Disorientating.

You’re not necessarily depressed. You’re not ungrateful.

You’re not failing (but there’s a high chance you feel like you are).

Sometimes this feeling isn’t a crisis.

It’s a transition into a life you possibly dreamed of, and you’re getting to know this emerging version of self you’re still meeting.

Transitions deserve language, not judgement.

24/02/2026

Ah yes…Because ‘Matricentric Feminism’ by Andrea O’Reilly, naming the structural oppression of mothers, is just a nice motherhood read.

Because ‘Invisible Women’ by Caroline Criado Perez, exposing systems built around male data, is some light reading.

Because ‘Maternal Thinking’ by Sara Ruddick, connecting mothering to war and social order, is neutral.

Totally apolitical 👌🏻

Motherhood is shaped by policy. By economics. By race. By whose labour is “invisible”. By power.

But I’m listening.

Tell me more how your work in the motherhood space isn’t political.

LOCAL BRIDGE ACTION: Swords, Co. Dublin. PLEASE SHARE 📣📣For anyone in/near Swords - come join us on the bridge at the Es...
19/02/2026

LOCAL BRIDGE ACTION: Swords, Co. Dublin. PLEASE SHARE 📣📣

For anyone in/near Swords - come join us on the bridge at the Estuary roundabout in Swords this Friday
(20th of Feb) at 07:30 am ❤️

Google map link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/PsKMQXQM8egM4314A?g_st=ic

I’ll be there for an hour but you are more than welcome to come for 5, 10, 15 minutes, whatever works for you.

We have some 🇵🇸🇵🇸 flags that will be flying so that Palestine continues to stay in the hearts and minds of as many people as possible.

Come alone. Come with a friend. We’ll be there to meet you 🍉

Let’s keep the local, Swords action going and hopefully, we’ll get some solidarity beeps and create ripple effects of hope and solidarity in the lives of those who drive past ❤️🕊️

Please share this with anyone who lives in or near Swords that would like to join us.

Feel free to comment or send me a DM if you’ve any questions ✊🏻

My book is officially out today. It’s publication day. It’s the 19th of February, 2026. I woke up early. I sat up and as...
19/02/2026

My book is officially out today. It’s publication day. It’s the 19th of February, 2026.

I woke up early. I sat up and as I reached for my housecoat, I felt tendrils of sadness reach for me. I let them wrap themselves around me, at once familiar and inevitable.

Hello, grief. I’ve been waiting for you.

My grief makes its way to the kitchen with me. It sees the flowers and the card my husband and children left me last night, they know I’m the first one up and knew I’d see them when I got up.

How beautiful to be loved. I know love, I know what it feels like to have been loved my whole life. I feel the ache of the absence of my mum and dad in every part of me today.

My grief and I sat at the table as I drank my coffee. Silence was our companion, we sat at ease with one another as echoes of memories passed through my mind.

Images of my dad going into Waterstones in Glasgow to tell them his daughter wrote a book and he wanted to buy it. I think he promised the guy he spoke to I’d come in and sign copies.

Echoes of words and smells of perfume fill me when I think about my mother, she is as much part of this book as my children and I.

I wrote the pieces in this book from places of sorrow and joy, from places of deep love and loneliness. It’s fitting that I sit in those places again on the day my book is officially published.

Here’s to all the brave hearts who sit in places where many fear to tread ❤️

14/02/2026

Do you know those moments of pure presence that I speak of? ✨

Whenever they descend, I try and soak them in. They don’t happen that often but when they do, oh my, they are breathtakingly beautiful.

Time seems to slow down, and almost stops completely for a few seconds. Distractions fade, noise dims and love is amplified.

Love so pure it bestows an abundance of gratitude straight into my bloodstream that will last for a while.

I am so grateful for my children, my lover and my life.

I am so grateful for having these beings in my life that help me stay aligned with the kind of person I want to be and give me courage for the actions that I must take to contribute to a world where there is liberation for all.

There truly is magic in the mundane 💫 ❤️

* This is the second piece I’ve read from my new book that comes out on Thursday the 19th. If you’d like to be involved with choosing the next piece, follow along in my stories for the next poll ❤️‍🔥🗳️ #

Hello friends ❤️I still find it a little surreal to write this, but I’m doing so with such a full and excited (and nervo...
13/02/2026

Hello friends ❤️

I still find it a little surreal to write this, but I’m doing so with such a full and excited (and nervous) heart…

My book is being launched in Books Upstairs, Dublin
on Tuesday 3rd March at 6:30pm

I’ll be joined in conversation by the wonderful Clare O’Connor whose work and way of holding community I really admire.

It will be an evening of conversation, reflection, and gentle honesty about motherhood, identity, loss, becoming, and all the things we so often carry quietly.

If you’ve been part of this space for any length of time, you’ll know that this book has grown out of years of listening, learning, unlearning, and sitting alongside mothers in their real lives. To be able to share it in this way feels deeply meaningful to me.

Tickets are free, but they do need to be registered in advance.

You can book your place via the link in the comments.

If you feel called to come, I’d really love to see you there.

The book will also be available to purchase in Books Upstairs on the night. If you haven’t yet got your copy, you can buy it directly from them.

With love, from one brave heart to another,
Jacqueline ❤️‍🔥

LOCAL BRIDGE ACTION: Swords, Co. Dublin. PLEASE SHARE 📣📣For anyone in/near Swords - come join us on the bridge at the Es...
12/02/2026

LOCAL BRIDGE ACTION: Swords, Co. Dublin. PLEASE SHARE 📣📣

For anyone in/near Swords - come join us on the bridge at the Estuary roundabout in Swords this Friday
(13th of February) at 07:30 am ❤️

Google map link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/PsKMQXQM8egM4314A?g_st=ic

I’ll be there for an hour but you are more than welcome to come for 5, 10, 15 minutes, whatever works for you.

We have some 🇵🇸🇵🇸 flags that will be flying so that Palestine continues to stay in the hearts and minds of as many people as possible.

Come alone. Come with a friend. We’ll be there to meet you 🍉

Let’s keep the local, Swords action going and hopefully, we’ll get some solidarity beeps and create ripple effects of hope and solidarity in the lives of those who drive past ❤️🕊️

Please share this with anyone who lives in or near Swords that would like to join us.

Feel free to comment or send me a DM if you’ve any questions ✊🏻

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Dublin

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