Bereavement, job loss, separation or divorce, a serious illness or accident can all result in various levels of trauma for which medical intervention or indeed psychological support isn’t always enough.
Yet knowing where to find reliable and trustworthy places where you can feel safe to expose your vulnerability and process your trauma in the hope of moving forward with hope isn’t easy.
Rebecca Sheridan set up Gerri’s Place in 2022, following the death of her mother, Gerri. She was cogently aware that her mother – who suffered from depression and anxiety – didn’t get the care she needed in the last years of her life.
“I realised that many people don’t get the right support at the right time, and if we could offer people a chance to rest, reset and connect before they reach a crisis point, that would be of huge benefit,” says Sheridan.
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Since then, the charity has been hosting weekend residential retreats to help individuals manage difficult personal circumstances, arising from burnout, grief, serious illness or stress from caring duties.
Sheridan says that since setting up Gerri’s Place, she has realised that many people are functioning but they are not okay. “It’s about offering early intervention, refuge, renewal and hope to those who need help,” she says.
Offered on a sliding financial scale, these retreats are not the same as the pampering weekend retreats or spa breaks that have burgeoned in recent years in luxurious hotels throughout Ireland.
“It’s about self-care. It’s not a treat or a luxury for those who come,” explains Aisling Plunkett, the retreat director of Gerri’s Place who runs sessions with a psychotherapist, and nurse/social prescriber. The organisation can’t meet the demand for retreat weekends and is now seeking corporate sponsorship for its 2026 programme. It is also seeking a permanent base to hold its retreats.
Although some of the same practices – yoga, meditation, sound baths (where participants lie comfortably, listening to different gongs) and forest bathing (slow, mindful walking in nature) – are included, the emphasis is firmly on giving people tools to help them cope once the weekend is over.
“We weave these practices through the weekend so people can sample practical techniques to see what suits them best. And we follow up with information on all tools, recommended books, etc,” says Plunkett.
Dunja Balaban realised that her long-term work with people with disabilities, coupled with looking after her husband after he suffered a stroke in the early 2000s, was taking its toll on her. “I had never really asked for help for myself before and didn’t recognise my trauma. I had become irritable, frustrated and reactive, but I had suppressed my own needs so much that I didn’t know what they were,” she says. Her physical symptoms included digestive problems and an inflammatory skin condition.
Attending a weekend retreat, Balaban says that for the first time, she didn’t have to look after someone else, or even herself. “I didn’t have to take control and make sure things were right. I felt my body was screaming out so much that at one point, I had to run up and down the stairs to release my feelings and emotions,” she says.
Balaban says that since attending the retreat, she has started caring for herself better by doing meditation, yoga and breathwork. She has also received counselling via Family Carers Ireland.
The Sanctuary, set up by the recently deceased Sister Stanislaus Kennedy (known as Sister Stan) is another oasis of caring in Dublin city centre. The Sanctuary programme manager James O’Connell says that community, spirituality and connection with the natural world are the centre’s key strengths.
The Sanctuary – on Stanhope St, Dublin 7 – runs online and in-person sessions of yoga, meditation, sound baths and nature walks. The addition of a biodiversity garden in 2020 has given people a chance to explore nature in a quiet space.
It forced me to slow down and stay with my feelings. My tears were the release of grief that I had pushed down
— Val Mullally
“Our biodiversity garden is the safest green area in Dublin city centre. There are no dogs, no bicycles and no electric scooters. It’s a free space for people to walk around to see how alive the natural world is,” says O’Connell.
He suggests that healing spaces such as The Sanctuary have a particular presence which allows people to slow down and tune in to themselves. “Often people don’t have other avenues to deal with pain, anxiety or grief,” he says.
He adds that the community of people – either online or in person – is a big part of its appeal. “For many people, healing lies in the consistent support from others going through something similar. The practices we facilitate are there for the good days and the bad days. It’s about the practice becoming part of your life.”
The Sanctuary also operates a sliding scale of payments for participating in workshops or courses. “A lot of people who need healing don’t have the money. Some of the people who come to our services are on unemployment benefit or a State pension,” says O’Connell.
Colm Madigan has been attending the Monday morning in-person meditation session at The Sanctuary for more than 10 years. “It’s a very welcoming and supportive place. It’s inclusive for people of all faiths or none,” says Madigan.
He says that attending the meditation has helped him become less reactive as a person. “It grounds you and teaches you that you don’t have to have the last word or be right on everything.”
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Val Mullally, who has been on two residential retreats with Gerri’s Place, says that on one retreat she cried for the first time since her son had died two years earlier. “It forced me to slow down and stay with my feelings. My tears were the release of grief that I had pushed down. Going on this retreat was a turning point for me,” she says.
Mullally, who has had three different forms of cancer, says she realised she was operating in “fight or flight” mode. “I was hypervigilant, never standing still, and afraid to feel things,” she says. Having suffered from trauma during her childhood and later marrying a man with alcohol problems, she has since divorced and remarried.
Mullally says she has learned to recognise her triggers and stressors and how important it is to be kind to herself. “I still have a lot of issues and stress to deal with, but I know now how to get myself out of feeling overwhelmed into a more relaxed state,” she says.
