Caoine Counselling and Psychotherapy

02/12/2025

30/11/2025

M A R Y

Murdered 4 February 2021 - Aged 72 yrs

Cork grandmother Mary O’Keeffe was a cook who had three children, 12 grandchildren and was predeceased by her husband Donal who died 25 years before she was killed. She loved music and dancing, was generous and kind to all who knew her.

She was murdered by her ex-partner 63-year-old Michael Leonard who, in 2019, she had made clear she no longer wished to see him. He set fire to his car while she was alive inside, the Central Criminal Court heard at his sentencing. He is serving life in prison for her murder.

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For the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender–Based Violence, we are honouring women whose lives were taken by male violence in Ireland.

These women were daughters, granddaughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers.
Their futures were stolen. Their opportunities were lost.
What remains are memories held by those who loved them.

From 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), the 16 Days of Activism calls for global solidarity to end violence against women and girls everywhere.

We remember these women.
We say their names.
We call for change.
Because every woman deserves to live in safety.







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29/11/2025

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27/11/2025

E M M A

Emma McCrory - Aged 45yrs
Murdered 15 December 2022

Mum-of-two Emma McCrory was a stylist and fashion wholesale manager when she lost her life at her Clontarf home.

The 45-year-old was found dead following a blaze at her north Dublin home.

Three months following her death, George Turner, was arrested and charged with her murder. The case is currently before the Central Criminal Court.

🧡🧡🧡

For the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender–Based Violence, we are honouring women whose lives were taken by male violence in Ireland.

These women were daughters, granddaughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers.
Their futures were stolen. Their opportunities were lost.
What remains are memories held by those who loved them.

From 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), the 16 Days of Activism calls for global solidarity to end violence against women and girls everywhere.

We remember these women.
We say their names.
We call for change.
Because every woman deserves to live in safety.








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26/11/2025

A S H L I N G

Ashling Murphy Aged 23 yrs
Murdered 12th January 2022 by Jozef Puska

An Irish primary school teacher, traditional Irish musician, and camogie player. She was murdered while walking along the Grand Canal towpath near Tullamore, County Offaly, prompting widespread public grief and national outrage over violence against women.

Ashling’s legacy has been commemorated through scholarships, renamed camogie trophies, and a permanent memorial at the site of her death. Her family established the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund to support traditional Irish arts and culture for young people.

🧡🧡

For the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender–Based Violence, we are honouring women whose lives were taken by male violence in Ireland.

These women were daughters, granddaughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers.
Their futures were stolen. Their opportunities were lost.
What remains are memories held by those who loved them.

From 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), the 16 Days of Activism calls for global solidarity to end violence against women and girls everywhere.

We remember these women.
We say their names.
We call for change.
Because every woman deserves to live in safety.







🧡🧡

25/11/2025

A N A

Ana Kriegel Aged 14
Murdered on 14 May 2018 by two teenage boys

Ana was a bright, creative young girl whose life was taken in an act of unimaginable violence and denied the chance to experience the life she deserved.

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For the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender–Based Violence, longford women s link are honouring women whose lives were taken by male violence in Ireland.

These women were daughters, granddaughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers.
Their futures were stolen. Their opportunities were lost.
What remains are memories held by those who loved them.

From 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), the 16 Days of Activism calls for global solidarity to end violence against women and girls everywhere.

We remember these women.
We say their names.
We call for change.
Because every woman deserves to live in safety.

🧡

25/11/2025

C O N S E N T

It can begin with something that seems small -- constant texts asking where you are, demands to share your personal data information , a partner/ friend tracking your every move online. But digital violence is not "virtual." It's real. It causes real harm. And what starts as obsessive monitoring, online stalking, or coercive control doesn't always stay on a screen. Too often, it escalates into physical violence. Sometimes, it ends in death.

That's why today -- the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women -- we need to recognize these early warning signs for what they are.

Over the next 💜 💜 I will be sharing resources on this page of what to look out for in your friendships and intimate relationships.

Raising kids to have empathy for others and an understanding of consent is one of the most important things parents can do to help reduce the incidence of sexual assault. To teach children -- girls and boys alike -- about the need to respect others and their personal boundaries,

If you haven’t already ‘Wild Cherry’ is a great education piece / conversation starter. Centered around female friendship. Themes such as - privilege, hierarchy, power, trust, toxic femininity, morality, social media, and the complex relationships between the characters lives.

This powerful and evocative scene in a recent episode of Eastenders explores powerful themes in young men, toxic masculinity, power, digital secrecy and its impact, consent, cohersion and manipulation in male friendships.
Vulnerability and learned behaviours.

🚩🚩 trigger warning

25/11/2025

20/11/2025

T H E
V E R S I O N
O F
Y O U,
Y O U
D O N ‘T
M E E T

You will never meet the version of you that lives in someone else’s story.

People carry their own histories, wounds, assumptions, hopes, fears, and unfinished narratives and something in you — reminds them. They create a version of you. Not out of malice, and not always with clarity. Simply because that’s how humans make sense of the world: through the stories they tell themselves.

In each of these stories, you appear as a character. But you don’t get to pick the script. You don’t get to edit the scenes. You don’t get to explain your motivations.That version of you?You’ll never shake their hand, never correct their misunderstandings, never fully align with their perspective.

There is only one version of you that you inhabit—the one that exists here and now, in this moment, on this timeline, working with the capacity, awareness, and limitations you have right now.

Imagine that every person you’ve crossed paths with carries a small book titled “My Story About You.”Dog eared pages, tea stained, tear stained, chapters. Torn out pages, scribbled on.

Lines filled up with old pain. Some are warm and soft around the edges. Some are incomplete.
Now ask yourself:Which parts of their story about me are actually within my control?Most people find the honest answer is - very little.
Allow that truth to soften something inside you.

Notice the pressure you’ve been carrying
Ask yourself:
Where have I been trying to manage someone else’s perception of me?
Whose story about me have I been trying to rewrite?
What has it cost me emotionally?
Pause. Name it. Release a little of it.

Give Compassion to Past Versions of You
Remember: earlier versions of you did the best they could with what they had.Your capacity then was different from your capacity now.Your understanding then was smaller than your understanding now.
You don’t have to carry shame for someone else’s storyline.

A gentle reminder
You are not the villain someone made you into.You are not the hero someone expected you to be.You are not the memory someone misremembers.You are not the projection someone placed on you.
You are the living, breathing person in this moment—imperfect, evolving, deeply human, and doing the best you can with the awareness you have.

You will never meet the version of you living in someone else’s story.
But you can meet yourself, fully, compassionately, and truthfully—right here.

17/11/2025

I am based out of Boyle Family Resource Centre on Thursdays and Fridays with the Roscommon Women's Network - RWN (HSE) programme ‘Seeking Safety’. This is a coping skills programme for women that supports the impact of trauma.
We explore themes such as
- Intergenerational trauma
- Trauma Inheritance
- Addiction
- The culture of the family and its impact
- How we become cycle breakers
- Recovery based thinking
- Red and Green Flags/ People
- Setting boundaries in relationships
- Coping with triggers
- Asking for Help
- Developing the language of self advocacy
- Safety






West Be Well
Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force
HSE Ireland Mayo Mental Health Association
Mental Health Ireland

13/11/2025

🌺 It can be a struggle to reach out
Sometimes it’s up to us to reach in 🌺

Would you know what to do if a friend, colleague or loved one confided in you about feeling suicidal? It can be really helpful for a person just to have a safe space to open up, know that they are heard and that they are not alone at a difficult time.

Find helpful information on how to understand su***de, self-harm and su***de prevention here: https://www.westbewell.ie/service-resources/su***de-prevention-resources/
Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force West Be Well Caoine Counselling and Psychotherapy

REACH IN: Reach in to someone you know who may be having mental health difficulties. It can be really helpful for a person just to have a safe space to open up, know that they are heard and that they are not alone at a difficult time.
Find helpful information on how to understand su***de, self-harm and su***de prevention here: https://www.westbewell.ie/service-resources/su***de-prevention-resources/

HSE West and North West / FSS an Iarthair agus an Iarthuaiscirt Mental Health Ireland Su***de Or Survive ***deorsurvivesos Ireland