Dr Tony Bates is a Clinical Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at University College Dublin. He was the Head of the Department of Psychology at St James’s Hospital, Dublin, for 30 years. Following psychotherapy training at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford, he established and directed the MSc in Cognitive Psychotherapy at TCD. In 2006, he established Jigsaw (The National Centre for Youth Mental Health) to address the mental health needs of young people. He is patron of the Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland (MTAI) and currently works with Focus Ireland to provide trauma-informed care in homeless settings.

Tony is the author of Breaking the Heart Open: Shaping the Life of a Psychologist, and

Coming through Depression: A Mindful Path to Recovery

Carmel Heaney was born in Dublin on the 21st July, 1924, the eldest child of Rosanna and Timothy O'Leary. She was educated at the Holy Faith convent, Glasnevin and at University College Dublin from which she graduated with an M.A. in History. After some years as a junior Civil Servant and in radio programming, she entered the Department of External Affairs (later the Department of Foreign Affairs). Her foreign postings were in San Francisco, Geneva and Boston where she was Consul General. She was a delegate to several sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations in the 1970s.

In 1970 Carmel married Henry Heaney, a Boston architect. She retired in 1989 and lives in Dublin. She leads a weekly philosophical discussion group, The Colloquy, and is an occasional contributor to the Irish Times.

Myriam el Kettani worked in the corporate world for over twenty years before training in humanistic psychotherapy and Focusing. She is a Focusing Oriented Therapist, and a person-centred practitioner. Myriam facilitates humanistic encounter groups for adults and/or adolescents. She also facilitates leadership support and collective intelligence development groups. Myriam lives in Morocco.

Focusing Oriented Therapy by Neil Friedman is available on World of Books and Amazon.

Báirbre Meehan is a Focusing-Oriented Coach and Coach Supervisor. Her practice is informed by 25 years in people management in roles such as CEO, organisational/leadership development and finance director. Her coaching journey began 12 years ago, at a time when her personal-development journey led her to focusing and from there the integration of these powerful ways of working naturally emerged.

Báirbre self-funded a research project measuring the impact of a Focusing-Oriented Coaching approach on people with Low Mental Well Being (MWB). Referrals came from medical doctors, psychotherapists and word of mouth and quantitative measurements showed very significant MWB improvements, maintained over the longer term.

Focusing-Oriented Coaching is Báirbre’s passion and she is devoted to developing and sharing it with others. Báirbre regularly runs Focusing-Oriented Coaching programs, teaching coaches, therapists and helping professionals how to use Focusing in their work. You can contact Báirbre at bairbre@pause.ie

To understand more about Focusing-Oriented Coaching in practice, here is a link to an article Báirbre has written 'Life wants to live: Focusing-Oriented Coaching' www.pause.ie/news This article first appeared in the July 2024 issue of Coaching Today, published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Naty Calvino lives in Argentina and is a Certifying Coordinator with TIFI (The International Focusing Institute), a Focusing Oriented Therapist, Supervisor and a Yogatherapist. She is also an FSPM Facilitator (Jan Winhall’s Felt Sense Polyvagal Model).
Naty teaches the entire Focusing Certification Program and Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT), and especially enjoys training and supervising therapists, as well as her work with clients both individually and with groups.

What Focusing means to Naty: "For me it is a way of BEING, and my goal every day is to be connected with my Higher Self, my essence, my spirit/heart/soul... that place where I feel part of this "vast system": the earth, the sky and all the living beings in their true light, beyond conditioning, adopted patterns and survival behaviors... In love."
Contact Naty at: nataliaquinn@yahoo.com.ar

Gordon Adam lives in Bristol, UK. He is passionate about Focusing and the supportive and transformative power of Focusing community. He has facilitated an open monthly ’changes’ type Focusing group for the last 15 years, and is co-creator of the BFA Focusing Community Camp.
Gordon runs 5-day Focusing retreats on Dartmoor and in the Southwest, combining Focusing with periods of silence, immersion in the natural world and temporary community. During the CV lockdowns he ran a series of very successful online workshops on ‘Focusing with Poetry’ which led to the formation of an ongoing ‘Focusing with Poetry’ group.

Gordon is also a homeopath and supervisor and has been editor of the British Focusing Association newsletter since 2016.

www.focusing.org.uk/Gordon-Adam gordonadam@blueyonder.co.uk

Harriët Teeuw is a Focusing oriented therapist and an art therapist as well as a Focusing Coordinator with The International Focusing Institute (TIFI). When she first learned Focusing in her native Netherlands in 2000, it inspired her to live a more authentic life. She began to integrate Focusing into her work with children, parents and adults. She brings this rich experience into teaching Children and Focusing Programs and the Focusing International Online Certification Program for Focusing Practitioners. Harriet is a member of the Children and Focusing Advisory Group with TIFI.
Find out more about Harriet's work and details of her programs at: https://www.childrenfocusing.org/
https://www.deruimte-info.nl/

Beth Mahler is an internationally recognized Certifying Coordinator for The International Focusing Institute & a practicing Licensed Clinical Social Worker based in New Jersey, U.S.A. Beth integrates her 30 years of training & development in the Psychology field to provide high quality teaching, training, & therapeutic services. She is best known for her compassionate care while providing trauma informed resilience practices to effect change. These changes carry forward toward psychosocial, physical, & mental wellness through mutual attunement & client centered modalities. Beth would love to hear from you & can be reached at beth.f.mahler@gmail.com.