Smaointe CBT Mental Healthcare

Smaointe CBT Mental Healthcare Katrina Dennehy
PhD Candidate UCC
(MA, MA in CBT, BA;Dip Psych;BA;MAPCP, BABCP) We cater for adults, adolescence, and children of 10yrs and up.

Smaointe CBT Mental Healthcare provides counselling and psychotherapy for a number of areas that may cause personal or emotional difficulty. These include Low Self Esteem/ Confidence, Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, Bereavement, Anger and Stress Management, Behavioural Difficulties, Self Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Obsessive Compulsive disorder, Post Traumatic Stress, Eating disorders, Bi Polar, Borderl

ine Personality disorder and ASD. Our team at present consists of five therapists, Each of whom are fully Accredited, insured and are trained graduates to the highest standard in the field of counselling, psychotherapy and supervision. They have trained in a number of specialties such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Integrative Psychotherapy, Child Psychology, Clinical Supervision in professional practice, Trauma and Psychology. We accept referrals by Family members, Self referral, G.P. and other Care services. All inquiries and interactions are treated with the utmost confidentiality, abiding by the guidelines laid out by relevant accrediting and quality assuring bodies. Thank you on behalf of myself
Katrina Dennehy (Manager) and all the Smaointe team.

31/07/2026

Our psychotherapist Kevin Noonan shares some important info about the impact of weather & summer on psychiatric medications!

📞 086 848 7941
✉️ [email protected]

Are you a CBT therapist looking for supportive, evidence-based clinical supervision?Receive high-quality supervision fro...
21/07/2026

Are you a CBT therapist looking for supportive, evidence-based clinical supervision?
Receive high-quality supervision from a BABCP Accredited Practitioner in a collaborative, reflective, and professional environment designed to help you develop your clinical skills and confidence.
Whether you're:
✔ Working towards BABCP accreditation
✔ Looking to complete KSA portfolio
✔ Maintaining professional standards
✔ Navigating complex cases
✔ Looking to enhance your CBT practice
Clinical supervision offers a safe space to reflect, learn, and grow while ensuring the highest standards of client care.
✨ Individual and small group supervision available
✨ Online sessions for flexibility and convenience
✨ Tailored to your level of experience and professional goals
Invest in your development and the quality of care you provide.
📩 Get in touch today to discuss availability or book an initial supervision session.

By Noel Daly! There is a temptation to think that the world is falling apart. That we are on the brink. A tipping point....
07/07/2026

By Noel Daly!

There is a temptation to think that the world is falling apart. That we are on the brink. A tipping point. By any reasonable measure, this is an absurd thing to believe.

Before I go on, this is not to say that everything is brilliant. There has never been a time when things were perfect, or even close to perfect. And I’m not talking about people who endure particularly heinous circumstances. I’m talking about people broadly. Generationally.

Every generation faces crises. Often, one crisis is a result of the solution to a previous crisis. Climate change, for example, wouldn’t be an issue without the industrial revolution. But can you even contemplate day-to-day living prior to the industrial revolution? Antibiotics saved millions from infection, but created antibiotic resistance. Digital technology connected the world and democratised information, but created misinformation, attention fragmentation, and new mental health issues. Progress is messy.

This idea that everything is terrible is largely driven by having minute-by-minute updates of everything that happens everywhere in the world. This stream of escalatory information can, understandably, make a person conclude that the Apocalypse is just around the corner. But this is a fault of human perception.

Read the rest of the article by Noel Daly on our website: https://www.smaointecbt.com/post/you-may-be-living-in-a-golden-age

📞 086 848 7941
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🌈 Welcome to the team - Aoife Gormally! 🎉 We are so delighted to have the wonderful Aoife join us here at Smaointe! 😁😁Ao...
01/07/2026

🌈 Welcome to the team - Aoife Gormally! 🎉

We are so delighted to have the wonderful Aoife join us here at Smaointe! 😁😁

Aoife is a qualified Social Worker with over 20 years clinical experience working with vulnerable children, families and older adults.

Aoife holds a MSc in Social Work, a BSc in Social Science, an MSc in Psychology, cert in CBT and is undertaking the QQI level 9 cert in CBT in PCI.

Aoife is a member of the British Psychological Society and is a CORU registered Social Worker.

Aoife provides low cost counselling at the rate of €45 per session

If you are interested in booking in to see Aoife, please reach out to us:

📞 086 848 7941
✉️ [email protected]

psychotherapy

23/06/2026

🎨 Compassionate Colours Imagery! 💛

By Murray Mackenzie

The use of compassionate imagery to calm the nervous system is an ancient practice.

In the West, proponents of compassion focused therapy, such as Paul Gilbert, have promoted the use of specific imagery based exercises to help trigger our soothing system. This is the parasympathetic nervous system commonly known as the “rest and digest” which helps dial down our threat system, also known as the fight, flight or freeze response.

One such exercise is the compassionate colours practice, which requires identifying a colour which for you conveys kindness, safety and compassion.

Directions:

Establish a comfortable posture where you can commit to breathing in a relaxed, mindful way for the next few moments.

When you are ready, begin to imagine a colour that you associate with compassion, or a colour that conveys some sense of warmth and kindness. Depending on your own style of imagery, it may be a fleeting sense of colour more so than a polaroid representation of the colour, but when you are ready, imagine this compassionate colour surrounding you.

Then, imagine this entering through your heart area and slowly permeating your body. As this happens, try to focus on this colour as having wisdom, strength and warmth, with a key quality of total kindness. Adopt a facial expression of kindness on your own face as you do this exercise. Imagine that this colour wants to help you.

Imagine that its sole intention is to heal you and that it wishes for your happiness. Focus on sensing that intention. Continue to breathe in this mindful, intentional way as you allow the energy of this compassionate colour to suffuse your being. Continue this practice for as long as it feels useful.

The more you practice and hone imagery based exercises like these, the more effective they tend to become.

📞 086 848 7941
✉️ [email protected]

A post by our wonderful therapist Tara Kearns! If you are struggling with stress, and you would like some help around ma...
15/06/2026

A post by our wonderful therapist Tara Kearns!

If you are struggling with stress, and you would like some help around managing it, support is available. Please reach out to us:

📞 086 848 7941
✉️ [email protected]

PMDD is something that’s coming up more in conversations lately, but for a lot of people, it still feels quite hard to m...
27/05/2026

PMDD is something that’s coming up more in conversations lately, but for a lot of people, it still feels quite hard to make sense of in their own day-to-day experience.

For some, there’s a noticeable shift at certain points in the month. Mood can dip, thoughts can feel harsher, and things that would normally feel manageable can suddenly feel more intense or more overwhelming. Then, not too long after, things can ease again.

When that pattern isn’t clear, it’s very easy to turn it inward and start questioning yourself.

What often stands out isn’t just how someone feels, but how they start to think about themselves and their situation during that time.

People might notice:

Being more self-critical

Feeling more sensitive

Interpreting things more negatively

A sense that everything is just a bit “too much”

And the tricky part is that those thoughts don’t feel like thoughts in the moment - they feel true.

One helpful approach, often used in CBT, is simply starting to notice patterns over time.

Check out Kevin’s blog post to read more. Link in bio!

📞 086 848 7941
✉️ [email protected]

The High Price of the “Perfect Mother” “Confession from a Mam who has worked her ass off to get the high-powered promoti...
26/05/2026

The High Price of the “Perfect Mother”

“Confession from a Mam who has worked her ass off to get the high-powered promotion... and is feeling like a failure at every turn.”

Our Head of Postgraduate Programmes, Katrina Dennehy BABCP Fully Accredited CBT, isn’t just speaking as a senior academic; she’s speaking from the trenches of the “Sandwich Generation.”

In her latest article, Katrina explores the invisible weight pressing down on Irish mothers in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. It’s a perfect storm of:

✔️ The Mental Load: 87% of Irish working mums feel more burnt out since the pandemic.

✔️ The Biological Hit: The overlooked impact of perimenopause on professional performance.

✔️ Cognitive Dissonance: The psychological rebellion of trying to “Excel at work” while being “Everywhere for the kids.”

This isn’t just “tiredness”, it’s a mental health crisis. Katrina bridges the gap between raw personal honesty and psychotherapeutic insight, offering a compassionate “hug” to those currently sprinting a marathon with no end in sight.

Read the full article here:
https://www.pcicollege.ie/news/the-invisible-weight-on-irish-mums-caught-between-ambition-and-the-perfect-mother-myth/

📞 086 848 7941
✉️ [email protected]

Are you interested in CBT sessions to support your mental health? 🧠 Brigid is a trainee Cognitive Behaviour Therapist wi...
22/05/2026

Are you interested in CBT sessions to support your mental health? 🧠

Brigid is a trainee Cognitive Behaviour Therapist with over 20 years of clinical experience working as a behaviour analyst. Brigid has a Psychology degree, a Masters in behavioural disorders and is a board certified behaviour analyst, BCBA.
​
Brigid has extensive experience developing whole-person support plans and interventions for comprehensive behaviour change, wellbeing and life goals progression.
​
Brigid currently has availability on Tuesday evenings, as well as online throughout the week.

If you are interesting in booking a session with Brigid, please reach out to us:

📞 086 848 7941
✉️ [email protected]

13/05/2026

I’m genuinely devastated by the Irish government’s decision not to introduce a social media ban for under 16s.
This was never about overreacting or restricting young people unnecessarily, it was about protection. There is now overwhelming, evidence-based research highlighting the mental health risks associated with early and unregulated social media use: rising anxiety, depression, self-harm behaviours, body image distress, cyberbullying, and exposure to deeply harmful content. These are not hypothetical concerns, they are realities showing up every day in the lives of children, families, and those of us working in mental health services.
What makes this decision feel so heavy is the sense of betrayal. Parents are already trying to navigate an environment that is deliberately designed to be addictive, persuasive, and difficult to regulate. We needed support. We needed leadership that recognised the scale of the risk. Instead, we are being left to carry this burden alone, expected to protect our children in a system that actively works against us.
I am also deeply disappointed in those who advised against this ban. To downplay or deny the dangers young people face online is not just short-sighted, it feels cowardly. It avoids confronting the uncomfortable truth that this digital landscape can be unsafe, and that meaningful protection requires decisive action, not hesitation.
Yes, there is absolutely a need for stronger legislation to hold big tech accountable, to ensure platforms build in real, enforceable protections for young users. That work is critical. But it is also slow. A ban could have acted as an essential interim safeguard while those legal frameworks are being developed and implemented.
Instead, we are left exposed.
As parents, we are now expected to manage this alone, to set boundaries in a world that is engineered to override them. That is an enormous and unfair responsibility to place on families.
Our children deserve better. And right now, it feels like they have been let down.

Address

Herons Wood Medical Centre
Carrigaline

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

+353868487941

Website

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