Woman Up

In this episode of Woman Up!, I am in conversation with the hugely impressive, and multi-passionate Ceara Carney. As an actor, Ceara trained at Bow Street Academy, after completing her BA in Performance Arts at Dundalk I.T. She has toured extensively in Ireland and Europe, and will be recognised by many from Vodafone's Each Christmas. Currently, she is touring various venues around Ireland with Quintessence Theatre's The Curious Case of Albert Cashier. You can find out more about Albert here, and you can find out about the remaining tour dates here. As a writer, Ceara's first radio play, Frizzy Lizzy was produced by RTÉ, and aired most recently in September of this year. Ceara's day job is also in the Theatre, as she is part of the team at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. Outside of Theatre, Ceara is a passionate environmental activist - creating and participating in spectacle displays with Extinction Rebellion Ireland. She also produces her own podcast, Book of Leaves, which concerns itself with sustainable living. The books we mentioned during our chat were 'Humankind A Hopeful History' and 'Utopia for Realists And How We Can Get There', both written by Rutger Bregman; and 'Why Women Are Poorer Than Men and What We Can Do About It' by Annabelle Williams. If you would like to contact Ceara, you can contact her through her agency. Finally - I must apologise for the audio in this episode - I had twitchy WiFi at some points in the recording. I do hope that doesn't affect your listening pleasure too much.

This week, on Woman Up!, I am joined by Máire Ní G, who is a qualified Occupational Therapist, a certified Universal Tao Instructor, and she also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Bereavement & Loss. Máire studied Trauma and Polyvagal Theory with Dr Stephen Porges and Deb Dana. Outside of work, Máire loves to travel, dance, and eat pink grapefruits. Not necessarily all at the same time. The inner smile meditation Máire refers to can be found here on her website. It is free to download.

In this episode, I am joined by the tenacious, generous, warm, intelligent, witty medical student (and mum of twelve), Dubliner Rosemary Murphy. Rosemary talks about her route to RCSI, her determination to make her dream come true. We also talk about people's prejudices and assumptions when they realise she has a dozen kids - including the (mistaken) assumption that the family lives on benefits!You can follow Rosemary on Twitter @rosemary_murphy

CW: Child Sexual AbuseMy guest this week is Dr Claire Cunnington.Claire is a researcher at the Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, UK and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). She is interested in interpersonal violence, inequality and stigma, with a particular focus on CSA and trauma. Her Wellcome Trust funded doctoral research asked adults recovering from CSA what helped and hindered their recovery. She is currently working on a Nuffield funded project looking at domestic violence and child protection. She has also made the film 'Flow' about CSA disclosure which was selected for the Birmingham International Film Festival and the Women Deliver WD2023 Arts & Film Festival. She blogs at www.clairecunnington.com, tweets @Cunning_Claire and is also on mastodon @DrC@mastodon.onlineThe film that Claire refers to can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU82VgDWfmE - Film: Flow

Orlagh Reid is an accredited Psychotherapist, Relationship Therapist and Addiction Counsellor, with more than ten years' experience. She specialises in clinical sexology, sexual problems, intimacy, relationships and sexual recovery. Living in Co. Kildare, Ireland, her practice is 100% online proving online therapy. As a psychosexual therapist, clients come to her for therapy to discuss any and every aspect of sexuality incl. sexual disorders, anxiety, fetishes, sexual blocks, pornography, menopause, shame, empowerment and many unspoken sensitive and hidden aspects of human sexuality. It is truly a privilege to be part of deep, vulnerable and intimate conversations that are part of a transformation process for those in therapy.  Prior to becoming a Psychotherapist, Orlagh trained for many years in Complementary Health Therapy and Spirituality and now incorporates this experience into providing clients with a holistic and integrative perspective on problems.Orlagh is a passionate advocate for women's health issues and regularly contributes to nationwide media topics on mental and sexual health. She has a blog called the Vaginismus Series for women experiencing Vaginismus symptoms and painful intimacy.   Her website is www.orlaghreid.com

Lucy H. Pearce is the author of ten non-fiction books for women. Her books include:'She of the Sea', 'Creatrix: she who makes', 'Medicine Woman: reclaiming the soul of healing', 'Burning Woman'. Her book 'Moon Time' - about harnessing the energy of your menstrual cycle - has a companion book, called 'Reaching for the Moon', for girls aged 9-14. Lucy is the founder of Womancraft Publishing, which publishes transformational books by women, for women, and a vibrant visual artist, and painter of lost archetypes of the feminine.Her website is: www.lucyhpearce.com

This week, my guest is Consie Sindet.Consie is a Creativity Coach and Teacher who uses art journaling and mixed media to express the ideas living in her mind. She believes that we should always be learning, growing, trying, failing and embracing the process. As a teacher of creativity in many forms for more than twenty years she has taught in-person and online art classes to many hundreds of women. She feels that her job is to show her community by example that they are creative. She wants everyone to know that we can find freedom, playfulness, and joy by slapping down some paint, gluing magazine pages to a piece of paper, adding doodling & marks, finding a quote that screams...'THIS IS HOW I FEEL TODAY!'...and calling it good enough. We spoke about Art, being an artist, whether or not creativity can be taught - and Consie shared several ideas which inspired me, and had me reaching for paper and colours!Details about how to work with Consie can be found here: https://atopserenityhill.teachable.com/courses

Sarah Sunfire is a New Orleans-born disability activist currently living in California. She identifies as queer and nonbinary, and keeps an active newsletter called Hot and Disabled that combines personal essay with conversational scholarly analysis. Under the name Sarah Neilson, she’s had work published in Burning House Press, Midway Journal, The Stranger, and Ms. Magazine.She holds an MA in Children’s Literature from Hollins University and has an abiding passion for discussing and dissecting fairy tales. Her graduate thesis, Never Having Seen a Bird, was a musical re-telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” through a disability activist and sex-positive feminist lens.She also works as an authenticity reader for Penguin Random House and has evaluated manuscripts from major authors for accurate portrayals of disability, bisexuality, and clinical depression. Her other freelance job, which uses her theater background and her lifelong fascination with psychology, is sex work.

My guest this week is Meg Kissack. Meg is the host of The Daily Pep! and The Couragemakers Podcast, and founder of The Rebel Rousers. She is a coach, writer and all-round rebel-rouser for fiercely creative, wildly multi-passionate & fabulously weird women She helps them show up in the world as their most courageous and authentic selves, do the epic shit only they can do and make/leave the world a brighter place. When she's not recording episodes, writing weekly BS-free Letters of Rebellion to her wonderful Rebel Rousers community or hosting workshops/group programmes, she can be found playing with colour, having adventures with Mr Meg and her wonderfully weird cockapoo Merlin and dreaming and scheming new ways to help people believe they matter.