A few years ago I had a breakdown. It was very serious. My body shut down and I couldn’t communicate with my family and friends. Sleep was a big issue for me as I couldn’t sleep with all the rational thoughts going on in my head.

I felt like a drone in the sky. It was like someone taking me out of my body and putting me up in the air away from all my family and friends. I could not speak no matter how hard I tried. My mind was racing with paranoia thoughts and to me it seemed quite real. I was frightened to leave the house and I isolated myself away from everyone.

I was attending the hospital as an out-patient and participated in many courses run by the hospital. This helped me towards my recovery and I went back to work. Things started to go down hill again and I stopped eating. I eventually was admitted to the psychiatrist ward in Hospital in July 2018 for 7 and half weeks. During that time in hospital I got the best of care from doctors, nurses and care staff. I got discharged in August and things started to look up for me. I and I was back to my old self and still attend the hospital as an out patient every 3 months.

However I am now back to work since October on a 3 day week and doing very well. I am also a better person today. I don’t have any worries or anxiety to-date. I am also a good listener and enjoy peoples company. I am grateful for my health and I thank god for this daily.

During my recovery I attended a STEPS Programme Excellence and Personal Success NEWKD in Listowel run by my sister Dee Keogh who delivered the programme in a dynamic interesting way. Having complete the 3 day STEPS programme. I came away with so many skills that has helped my recovery to date. I learnt not to think in the past. As you can’t change the past. What’s done is done and you can’t change that. So I just concentrate on the future. That’s how I get by from day to day. This was explained in STEP 1 of the course. This is known for pushing back boundaries. Once you learn this effective skill you will break through boundaries and attempt things you never thought possible. I joined a choir in Dublin City Council and I haven’t look back since. I love being part of a team and singing as it’s good for the soul. I never thought I’d get this far in life and I am so grateful.

STEP 11 -Setting goals and create your future. This STEP shows us that when we set our mind to a goal that we want. We will get there. We looked at the power of self talk regulates to our performances for new energy to keep going. This is how I reached my goal of going back to work along with my cognitive behaviour therapy.

STEP 10 was understanding change and stepping out of your comfort zone. I learnt to visualise my portentously and use the Affirmation process. I was scared that my illness would come back at any stage. I use this STEP everyday to keep me well. I say my affirmation thank god for my health and never get sick again. This is working.

Liz McCarthy

Before I committed to the Steps programme, I just feel I was “stopped”. I had lived my life mostly according to the script that life had given me, all be it with a few unexpected bumps along the road. Addiction visited me in my early thirties and again in my late forties, this I absolutely was not expecting and certainly didn’t plan for.

When I say I was stopped, I really was just threading water, waiting for life to happen to me, be they negative or positive experiences. They were just going to happen to me. Other people’s actions were going to impact on me and my decisions for myself.

All my life I had become practiced at coming last, to parents, husband, children, work, friends etc. I was the caretaker of all around me and I always came last. I was in the habit of feeling self-righteous in my ‘suffering’

I was outwardly self-confident, seemingly happy and humorous but inside I felt
sad and broken. I really felt that life was over and that I had done all that was to
be done. While I was not suicidal, I felt I was just in a place of waiting.

STEPS has been the hardest but most worthwhile thing I have ever done in my
life. It has been a most amazing journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance.
A road to the inner me and a work in progress to believe in myself and love
myself on the inside.

I feel that I now have proven tools to work on myself, and a realisation that the power is within me. I went from seeing nothing positive to knowing I can make
positive for myself.

Truly this has started the rest of my life, regardless of length. I feel now I will have quality to my life. I have a lot of work to do but I am eager to start, and I know now that the ball is in my court and I can’t wait to start playing.

Thank You STEPS but most especially Thank You Dee, we are truly blessed to
have you.

©Helen Donovan 16/02/2020

Would you like to know how the course looks like? Below James shares his impressions of the programme. Read along, contact us for more information and of course expected the unexpected.

STEPS Experience

A few years ago I got an invitation to attend a presentation event at Tralee IT.  I don’t know why I was invited, but never one to turn down an opportunity to learn or see something new, I went along without really knowing too much about what I was going into.

To say I was surprised would be an understatement.  I met a group of people, a few of whom I knew, who had come from varied backgrounds, difficulties and circumstances that were heartbreaking, unfortunate, self afflicted and any other combination of all three.  There was addiction of all kinds, there was serious and life changing illness, there was bankruptcy, there was separation, there was deprivation – in short, there was every sad and harrowing story you could ever imagine, and worse.

However, above all else, there was Hope.

Each and every one shared their story, sometimes with the most brutal honesty.  Some had thought they had hit rock bottom, and found there were yet deeper depths to fall.  However, in the words of Oscar Wilde,

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”.  

Each had individually realised that they needed help, support, encouragement and where better to get that then from people who were also facing their own challenges and difficulties.  A non-judgmental support group, but with a structure that could lead to better times, better choices, and a better future.

This was my first experience of a STEPS group.  There were a number of Guest Speakers, such as Joanne O’Riordan and Kieran Donaghy, who shared their stories of beating what seemed like unsurpassable odds, all very impressive and inspiring, but I kept coming back to the local group.  What was the connection that had made such a difference to their lives?

The facilitator was a lady called Dee Keogh, a determined force of nature who had rampant enthusiasm and a “can-do” attitude that had been obviously forged from events and experience.  She ran a course that encouraged and supported a level of structured Self Development and Improvement that had had a profound and positive effect on the lives of these attendees. Naturally I was intrigued and curious.

Last January, I finally had the opportunity to experience this course for myself.   I came into a group of about thirty people, again from varied backgrounds and experiences, again some of whom I knew from other events and organisations.  

For three days of solid and demanding work, this was a group who shared their experiences, worked together and helped and supported each other.  A collective team ethos was quickly established, with formal learning through Video and often quite searching self reflection. We had to test our personal trusted beliefs and assumptions and then be open to alternative viewpoints and conclusions.  It was a course where “Outside the Box” thinking was not only encouraged, but was expected. It followed a formal structure, but the informal learning between exercises was at least as important and informative. 

This course had a dramatic effect on the attendees, some of whom made radical and far reaching changes to their personal and professional lives even as the course was ongoing, let alone what changes will have occurred since.  I cannot wait to find out what their futures hold.

James Finnegan

Do you ever feel stuck? We know what’s good for us, but kind of forget it. One of our participants of the STEPS course felt inspired and motivated to tackle her anxiety with Capacitar. On our booster session she shared that not only she was back practicing the method but she even attended teacher’s training. She is full of energy and good intentions to help others handle stress, especially in the current challenge of pandemic.

Gina’s story

About 15 years ago I was in Lyracompagne at Earth Day. I meet Dee Keogh there and told her I was very stressed and anxious. She started showing me exercises and I felt the anxiety leave me. She told me she had done training in Capacitar. 

A few years latter I did a workshop that Dee organised with a women’s group in Castleisland and loved it and did 2 other workshops in Ardfert Retreat Center. 

While I was doing the STEPS program I had time to reflect I was in a rut and had lost focus I would have a recurring anxiety/depression or comes and goes,  but I need to practice self care and I knew that Capacitar works, but need to bring it into my daily life.

Well, the STEPS course helped me to decide to attend Capacitar training modules. I have just completed Module 1 in Dublin and loved using it daily and sharing the practice and because of the corona Virus I have been able to share hand outs that  will help us through this challenging times and I get great satisfaction when people tell me how good they find the practice.

Free Download Capacitar Emergency Response Tool Kit

I just wanted to share my good news with you all, I got a call from CPL last week out of the blue to go for interview at CIT for IT Analyst position for 12 month contract and decided to go for it and well I went and got the position. I didn’t want to do the Cork commute again after the last disaster job but when I saw the Job Description I changed my mind as it looked very interesting and thought I would give it a chance.

My whole mindset has changed since doing the STEPS and instead of dissing something because of past experiences I decided to go ahead and give it a chance. Even the morning of the interview I left in time according to the directions with 40 mins to spare to relax and go over notes well wasn’t there road works in Macroom and got delayed there for nearly an hour. STEPS kicked into action and I calmly called the Agency and asked them to call CIT and tell them I would be late I ended getting there 15 mins late but more importantly I got there calm because I didn’t panic. There is the added bonus that CIT are joining up with IT Tralee in the future to create Munster University so maybe I would transfer over to something at IT Tralee. I also asked to be able to work remotely after an initial period and we are going to revisit that after 5 months.

I realized that before STEPS I was on autopilot and just floating along but now I am more aware and present, setting goals, writing them down, doing my affirmations and things are happening one by one and I know will continue to happen. I also learned to ask for things I want, like flexible working times/working remotely. I also had no idea on how the mind really worked and learned so much on that end.

Thank you guys for all your guidance/support between Moving On and STEPS and all the help with interview tips/CVs/cover letters and on and on, NEWKD are lucky to have such lovely dedicated employees.

Yvonne