What really inspires me is to see people discover their true greatness. I believe that when we were born, we were completely lovable and acceptable.  I also recognize that difficult life events affect us and that we make choices and establish patterns, which are not all helpful or useful.  And I know change is possible.  I have experienced change in my own life.  The acceptance and friendship of others made me and continues to make me who I am today.  I carry that hope and expectation of growth into my work. 

It is said that ‘variety is the spice of life’ and I have had plenty of it.  As a child and teenager, when not at school, I worked on our small family farm in Galway.  Think cows, sheep, root crops, hay, the bog (peat for fuel) and, inevitably, soft rain – but often.

Then, 7 years of university study for the priesthood. Afterwards I served on a tiny Gaelic speaking island for 3 years.  If you have watched ‘Father Ted’, then you have seen it.  For the next 10 years, my home was in a stunningly beautiful hill farming parish in County Mayo.  I then spent 10 years at Knock, an international centre of religious pilgrimage.  Each year, we welcomed about 800,000 visitors from all over the world.  I was a member of the senior management team, managing 100 staff and 1,500 volunteers. 

I came to Norfolk in 1996 and directed a voluntary sector counselling agency in Norwich for 5 years before establishing Beechmount to provide our current range of services.