In this episode, I sit down with Michelle Martin Boylan, a woman originally from Sheriff Street whose journey looks very different to many of the stories we’re used to hearing — and yet carries its own depth, pain, and healing.

Michelle describes herself as a shy, quiet child who loved her own company and books. She wasn’t a street kid and didn’t get caught up in much of the activity that surrounded many of us growing up, yet like so many from our generation, she was not untouched by trauma.

Michelle speaks honestly about her struggles with prescription drug dependency, depression, and the physical toll medication began to take on her body. When the medication stopped working for her, she made the brave decision to come off it — and that choice led her down a deeply spiritual and healing path.

Today, Michelle is opening her own centre, The Feeling of Healing, based in the Be Centre in Balbriggan, North County Dublin. She is qualified in advanced clinical hypnotherapy, Reiki healing, advanced Theta healing, spiritual personal growth and development, and creative mindfulness for children.

As the eldest of eight siblings, Michelle carried responsibility from a very young age — a theme that echoes throughout her story. She also speaks gently and respectfully about experiences of sexual abuse, without going into detail, and how these experiences shaped her inner world.

Although Michelle and I had very different childhood experiences, we found ourselves deeply connected through the similarities of our later-life struggles. What became clear in this conversation is that growing up in the 1980s — especially in communities like ours — left many of us carrying trauma in ways we didn’t always recognise at the time.

This is a calm, insightful, and hopeful conversation about recovery, healing without medication, and the power of discovering a new way forward.