Alan Cooke, Emmy award winning writer and poet returns to the podcast to talk about his experiences of a profound grief after the death of his cat,  and the journey of healing he undertook. His present loss coupled with other significant losses in his life led him to travel the roads of Ireland meeting many people along the way and through shared experiences of loss and grief and connecting to the landscapes he started a healing path that continues and is bringing him forward in ways he could not have anticipated.  

Chris introduces Season 5 and talks about potential guests and recaps on season 4. Also talks about his work evelopements in Galway City counselling and the experiences of being a Dad. 

Amy talks with Chris about her journey that led her to start training as a psychotherapist.  She shares with Chris her experiences of having three siblings with Autism and the changing family dynamics and coming to terms with this.  She talks with Chris with honesty and insight and they talk about the impact of her early experiences moving from Co Dublin to the West of Ireland and the struggle of adjustment.  They talk about being sensitive and how valuable this is for the work of therapy but also how painful it can be.  Amy shares with Chris a family bereavment that had a profound impact on them all and how this and her brothers cancer diagnosis all happened at the beginning of the pandemic. This was a chat that was filled with honesty and openness. 

Chris talks with Padraig about his years of working in positive behavioural support and applied behavioural analysis and his changing focus since the pandemic. He discovered the power of communicating insights from psychology in a way that people can understand and has since  worked with the media and has worked with different organisations utilising psychological insights  to support them. And then he became a Dad and chats with Chris about this amazing,  life changing experience and they share their thoughts on fatherhood and being first time Dad's.

Eylül joins Chris to talk about her life in Turkey and the challenges and pressures of a life studying medicine and not following her passion for music.  She shares with Chris how she moved from the clinical setting to Academia and her love of science.  She talks about the challenges of life in Turkey and about what led her to move to Ireland. They talk about the work she is doing as a post doctoral researcher here.  And always music follows her and she shares with Chris this ongoing journey to becoming a musician and her passion for music and for the written word and how  melodies and lyrics  come to her and and how therapeutic this process is. 

Laura and Enda join Chris discussing their amazing Cafe and the ethos that they wish to bring to their customers. Authentic connection and great coffee are keys to their business and they share their journey to getting to where they are today. Enda talks about passion for your work versus expectation and societal norms and his movement from engineering to coffee and Laura describes the importance of being real and how this underpins their interaction  with customers.   It's clear they are both passionate about their work and they see that as fundamental to their daily lived experience. 

Sarah and Chris have a fascinating discussion about therapy and theatre and the healing aspects of their  integration. Sarah talks about her journey into the world of theatre and the paths her career has taken and her hopes going forward.  She shares with Chris her passion for the craft of acting but how she finds the industry of acting at odds with the craft. They discuss the potential for theatre and the creative arts to be therapeutic and therapy as place to help open up our creative potential.  

Lisa Berry joins Chris in chatting about her work as a Yoga teacher and practitioner and shares with Chris the profound impact yoga has had on her life. She shares her work and her approach and  brings great insight into the the world of Yoga and the very positive impact it can make in our lives. This is a fascinating conversation that has many twists and turns and captures the wide nature of Yoga and how it is so much more than the physical practise  often associated with Yoga.

Yvonne chats with Chris about her work as a therapist and her passion for psychotherapy and the healing power of the therapeutic relationship.  She also talks about her work as a singer with the band  The Raines and as a producer on a variety of projects with her husband Tommy Tiernan and more recently on the Tommy, Hector and Laurita Podcast. 

Chris talks with Niall Ronan about his former professional career in Rugby, playing with Leinster, Munster and Ireland.  He talks about the valuable lessons he learnt as a player and how he uses these in his life now and in the area of corporate wellness where he is director of a company, Titan Wellness.  Niall and Chris chat about different ideas that relate to wellness and Niall shares with Chris a wealth of ideas that can add value to our life.