Connacht Tribune
Door to a new world
Lifestyle – Michael Hegarty had a successful career in banking and finance until his world fell apart in 2008 when his marriage of 36 years ended. At a crossroads, he tentatively moved in a new direction and has since gone on to train and practise as a psychotherapist. His own therapy sessions helped heal deeply buried childhood traumas and changed his life. He has now written a book on talk therapy to help others appreciate its benefits, as he tells BERNIE NÍ FHLATHARTA.
Never was the saying ‘when one door closes, another one opens’ as true as it was for one man who found himself on a journey of self-discovery, which led to a whole new career.
That’s exactly how Michael Hegarty became a psychotherapist, an occupation he had never anticipated.
Not only has the former banker and financial consultant been working as a psychotherapist for the past 10 years but he has just written a book explaining what’s involved.
To put it simply, it’s a practical and structured approach to talk therapy – as it says on the cover. And already, Gateways to Psychotherapy has been well received among his peers and readers at home and abroad.
Michael is brutally honest in the book’s introduction about how he stumbled into therapy. He floundered when his marriage of 36 years broke up in 2008 and says he was lost in body and soul, despite his work, swimming sessions in the gym, hill walking and fishing on the Corrib.
He didn’t think twice when his son, David, suggested he enrol in a philosophy course. This was the start of a new journey for him, one that would take him into the inner workings of his mind.
It was an emotional journey that brought hidden, repressed childhood trauma to the fore, memories of child abuse, (being sexually abused more than 400 times over two-and-a-half years, from age 12, until he put up his fists to the man responsible, who turned and walked away, looking for his next victim) abandonment (his mother disappeared for six months when he was just six. She was actually in Holles Street Hospital in Dublin) and the day-to-day struggle of being one of 12 children.
The family moved many times to accommodate his father’s banking job which resulted in Michael changing primary schools five times. He was born in Nenagh but lived in Westport, County Mayo; Tullow, County Carlow; Enniscorthy, County Wexford; and Kenmare, County Kerry, before he himself joined the bank straight from Leaving Cert at 17.
He subsequently lived and worked in Castletownbere, West Cork; Doon, County Limerick; Dunlavin, County Wicklow; Dunmanway, West Cork; and Cork City before arriving in Galway in 1981.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
