#TherapistsConnect Podcast – Episode with Maxine Walsh and Dr Peter Blundell

In this episode, Dr. Peter Blundell interviews Maxine Walsh. 

Maxine has been a counsellor and psychotherapist for 11 years with four years of experience in private practice. After leaving school she went on to study information technology which led to a 15-year career in IT support for several multinational corporations. This gave her a chance to travel extensively around Europe.  Maxine then returned to college as a mature student to follow her dream of running her own business as a mental health professional. She has been accredited by the Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists since 2019. Maxine is also one of the #TherapistsConnect volunteers and runs our Twitter/X account on a Monday.

Maxine's Details
Website: https://www.adharacounselling.com/
Twitter/X: @adharadublin

Peter's Details
Website: www.peterblundell.com
Social Media: @drpeterblundell

#TherapistsConnect is a platform for connecting therapists.
Website: www.Therapists-Connect.com
Twitter: @Therapists_C
Instagram: @TherapistsConnect
Facebook: @TherConnect

Origins of #TherapistsConnect

Transcript

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Peter Blundell: 0:01

Hello, my name is Dr. Peter Blundell and you're listening to the#TherapistsConnect Podcast. Today I'm interviewing one of the therapists connects volunteers Maxine Walsh, Maxine has been a counselor and psychotherapist for over 11 years with over four years experience in private practice. She is born and raised in a large Dublin family, and currently works in Dublin southwest. After leaving school, she went on to study information technology, which led to a 15 year career in IT supporting several multinational corporations, which gave her the chance to travel extensively around Europe. She then returned to college as a mature student to follow her dream of running her own business as a mental health professional. And she has been accredited with the Irish Association of Counselors and Psychotherapist since 2019. If you enjoyed listening to this Therapists Connect podcast episode, please go to your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. Hi, Maxine, thanks so much for coming on the Therapists Connect podcast. It's lovely to have you here and to have a little bit of a chat and get to know you a little bit better.

Maxine Walsh: 1:06

Hi, Peter, great to be here. Great to get to know you a little bit.

Peter Blundell: 1:11

Fab. So I'll just dive straight into our questions, though, which is the question that I asked everybody who's come on the podcast, which is can you tell the listeners a little bit how you became to be a therapist in the first place? What drew you to therapy as a profession?

Maxine Walsh: 1:26

And well, I was in my mid 20s, I think I was they call it a quarter life crisis now. And so I was working in IT in information technology. And I didn't like I didn't like it. Well, I think I went into it because it was it was everybody said, 'Oh, you can make money. And this is gonna be the big new thing.' And it was, and but I really didn't like it. And I, I went through a relationship breakup, and it was really tough on me. I had never been interested in mental health or anything like that before. So I had some counseling myself, I'd imagine probably every counselor says, Yeah, I had some kind of thing myself. And it was amazing. And I learned so much. And one of the things we were talking about my job and how much you didn't like it. And the counselor, kind of put it out there about volunteering. And I heard that they were looking for volunteers for a crisis line. And they're here in Dublin. So I, I volunteered for that I went through that the training, it was in the Dublin rape crisis center. And we went for two weeks training. It was absolutely amazing. I loved it. And then I did that for a few months. And after doing that for a few months, I decided no, I actually would love to look into making a career out of this. So I went back to college.

Peter Blundell: 2:59

Fantastic. So it's interesting. It's like, it's like personal experience of therapy. But then also, by doing that, volunteering and getting a bit of a sense maybe of what it was what it was, like, kind of led you down that path. And I suspect IT and therapy, quite different professions, then

Maxine Walsh: 3:16

Very different, very different. I mean, you know, I still have some friends, I mean, one of my best friends from my career in IT, so it wasn't all bad. But it was just the whole the whole time I was there it was I had two different jobs. I worked for five years in one place then worked for I think seven years in one place. So it wasn't a short career. And but the whole time, it was just that kind of the old thing of like square peg round hole. It just didn't suit me, you know. And it was it was only until I actually started to go and explore my own mental health and myself that I realized that this is not for me this is this is not what I'm supposed to be doing.

Peter Blundell: 4:01

Yeah, I can relate to that. Before I did my psychology degree I was working in a bank and loans and mortgages and all those kinds of things. And I'd love the people that I work with but absolutely did not enjoy the job at all. So I can I can totally relate to feeling like a square peg in a round in a round hole. So you went and train and you qualified and then can you tell us a little bit about your career so far then since you've since you've become a therapist?

Maxine Walsh: 4:36

Well, I suppose before I started my career so as I was, as in my final year of college, I had a surprise baby. And, and so that kind of that sort of put things on hold a little bit that well I actually got a job in an EAP In my final year, so a very good college friend gave me the heads up about brilliant job. And so I was really happy in that job. And then I had, I had my little boy, and in 2010, so that was so that was too long ago now. It feels like it was only about three years ago, but he's 13 this year. And he was sick when he was born. But shortly after he was born, he was diagnosed with it with a series of illness. So the whole idea of becoming an counsellor, I always wanted to become a counselor, and I always wanted to work in private practice. But that was put on hold. And for a few years looking after him, he was he was sick. And, you know, the the experience of that was another layer to my experience as well was becoming the parent of a child with a disability. And I did work for some charities for a few years while I was working towards my accreditation. I really enjoyed that. And then it was time, it's time for me to work for myself, just before the COVID pandemic.

Peter Blundell: 6:18

I mean, so you had quite a lot to juggle in your life anyway. And then and then you decided to go to private practice than the pandemic hit, how did you did you set up and start then just just as the pandemic was started?

Maxine Walsh: 6:32

It was interesting. Because I had already been making my plans to do this before the pandemic, pandemic hit, I think it was April 2020, when the, my the room where I do my counseling was finished and ready to go. April 2020, lockdown. We were told, you know, when the news and by the accrediting body that we couldn't work in person, so I was straight straight into online. And and then then a few months, I think around May or June 2020, we were told no, you're an essential worker, do you remember that term essential worker. And I was able to help people in the in the cabin that I work in. But it's it's been, I have to say it's been, it's been easy, and it's a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Peter Blundell: 7:37

Fantastic, I mean, that's great that you still managed to set up. And I just imagine how many therapists were in that position, either just setting up in private practice, or they were already in private practice and have rooms that they were renting, and all of those kinds of things. And then obviously, the pandemic hits, and everybody's got to kind of change and shift the way that they're working. But I'm really glad that you were able to still make a success of that, and make it work for you what happens now to work in person and online, or to do a little bit of both, or

Maxine Walsh: 8:07

a little bit of both, mostly in person. And I find that there, there's definitely more people than they used to be looking for online therapy. And but I do a bit of both, sometimes I find that it's somebody might have a couple of sessions, maybe, you know, face to face, and we're getting to know each other. And I think that's a great idea, actually, just to have that those couple of sessions face to face. And then, you know, for whatever reason, because of distance or because of life circumstances, they'll they'll go out there change to online, online doesn't suit everybody. You know, I noticed sometimes people if they have very full house or lots of noise in the house or things like that, that they they prefer face to face, you know?

Peter Blundell: 8:55

Yeah, absolutely. It doesn't suit everybody. How did you train in a particular modality and like, how would you describe your therapeutic approach now?

Maxine Walsh: 9:06

And so when I, when I went to study, it was just the it was a degree it was a bachelor of science, in counseling and psychotherapy. It's all changed now. There's QQI levels, I don't know what it's like in the UK, but it's like different levels. So it was we it was a very kind of well rounded course where there wasn't a particular type. So at the end of it, what you'd come out as I suppose, is an integrative psychotherapist, which is what I would say I am now an integrative psychotherapist, I've worked and studied, you know few different modalities and I suppose chosen a couple that I find certainly.

Peter Blundell: 10:04

And do you have any kind of like specialisms that in your client base in terms of what you what kind of things that you work with?

Maxine Walsh: 10:11

Yeah, it's a funny one, isn't it that the, the special, things are special? Because I think when you're a student, you have these ideas about what you'd like to do. And then somehow or another when you start to work, it's almost like your clients lead you into. I don't know if it was the same for you.

Peter Blundell: 10:31

Yeah, I can relate to that.

Maxine Walsh: 10:32

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. That's what's happened to me. So I always had an interest in trauma. And that, you know, that was where I wanted to go. And definitely, yes, I so I've done, I still have an interest in trauma. I've studied trauma, I've I've done workshops on trauma. And I mean, that it probably comes in the door with every client anyway, in some way, shape, or form. But I suppose I would say that what I specialize in would be anxiety and self esteem.

Peter Blundell: 11:07

And so people reach out to you for those specific issues.

Maxine Walsh: 11:12

Yes, I had lots of different issues to lots of other issues, too. But they would be the two main ones yet at the moment.

Peter Blundell: 11:19

So just changing the topic slightly. And for those who don't know, Maxine is also a volunteer on the Therapist Connect Twitter account or X as we should probably call it. Now. Twitter no longer exists on Mondays. So this question, I've usually asked to all the other guests as well, but you might have a particular perspective because of that volunteering role that you do. But I was wondering how you see the wider therapy community, and how connected do you feel to kind of other therapists?

Maxine Walsh: 12:08

Well, it's all very new is relatively new, isn't it? I think one of the reasons why I was drawn to it is because private practice is very lonely, especially coming from a background where I was working for big corporations. And there was always people around, and always people to bounce things off and get feedback from and so without that community, and it's fantastic that it's a global community. And it's it is one good thing about the internet, I noticed a lot of criticism about the internet, and rightly so. But it is one great thing about the internet, is that how it can bring people together. And it is a place where people can get support and feedback when they otherwise wouldn't have been able to it is quite a lonely profession, I think.

Peter Blundell: 13:04

Yeah, I think I know, I'd completely agree with that. And I think, obviously, we set up in the pandemic. And there's a lot of people who are more isolated. But I think as people have returned to more in person working and things like that, I think there is still a lot of professionals who are who are feeling isolated and on their own. And if you're in private practice, you might not see any of the therapists at all, you know, so the people need communities to support them in that.

Maxine Walsh: 13:31

Yeah. 100% Yeah, it because even you know, people that I would have went to college with maybe people that I worked with private practice, as well. And even even if you're working for an organization, you're so busy, it's so busy. And the the errors can be antisocial, too. It's not a nine to five job. So all those things, I think can lead to isolation.

Peter Blundell: 13:59

Yeah, absolutely. What do you think then, is the biggest challenge that the counseling and psychotherapy professionals faces right now?

Maxine Walsh: 14:10

And I think, again, as it's a relatively new profession, in that it kind of used to be doctors didn't that and psychiatrists and psychologists who were looking after mental health, I think regulation is a huge challenge. I know that in the UK. That's kind of in the process of happening. It feels like in Ireland, they're waiting to see what happens in the UK. That's my opinion only. It feels like the right to see what's gonna happen in the UK. But I think it's really important that we get the regulation piece absolutely correct. And then the other challenge is social media that we do that right to.

Peter Blundell: 15:06

Absolutely. And I think particularly social, I mean, the regulatory side of things. It's so controversial over here in the UK, I'm sure you will have seen on the Twitter accounts on different discussions and things that are kind of happening over that. And then and social media, I agree in terms of I mean, social media is relatively new as well. And so we've got counseling and psychotherapy, relatively new profession, and then social media combined. And we don't really know how we're navigating both of those things together. At the moment, it's still everybody's still learning, I think. But it's interesting to hear that you think that kind of Ireland's waiting to kind of see what happens here in the UK before they take any steps, which kind of makes sense. I suppose when something's kind of being worked through in one area, it kind of makes sense to people to kind of say, 'Okay, well, let's see what happens there before. Before before we delve in'

Maxine Walsh: 15:58

Yeah. It's just, it's just my observation.

Peter Blundell: 16:02

Yeah.

Maxine Walsh: 16:04

So we're, I know that the, it's called SCoPEd, Scoped, ScoED?

Peter Blundell: 16:13

one of those three people, all those phrases.

Maxine Walsh: 16:19

In the UK, and here, it's where what they're trying to get at counseling and psychotherapy to be protected labels under the Coru registrations, Coru registration. And it seems they seem to be it seems to be facing the same challenges as far as I can see. And I think, by the way, that is a big part of it is that a lot of the people in charge of, you know, protecting the profession. And you know, when and making these regulations, only have a very limited idea of what counseling and psychotherapy is.

Peter Blundell: 17:06

I think that's my concern is, are we putting everything in too much of a rigid box? And not actually valuing everything that so many of us do within the profession? No, I think I think that's spot on. So we're coming to the end of the questions. Now, it's loved chatting to you, but if you got, what are your future plans? Or is there anything else that you'd like our listeners to hear about before we come to an end?

Maxine Walsh: 17:36

Before I, you know, before I started to train as a, as a psychotherapist, and what my dream was what I really wanted to do was, so I grew up in Dublin in sort of a very working class, you know, background family, five kids, my dad was a bread man. And I just might, what I noticed growing up, and what I noticed as I started to train to become a psychotherapist is that there's a there's a problem with self esteem. And I don't know if it's worldwide, but definitely, in Ireland, there's, there's a problem. There's a lack of self awareness. There's, there's people, a lot of people who have been brought up to believe that they are never to be the priority in their own lives. And so what I always wanted to do was to bring psychotherapy and counseling to people who wouldn't have access to it. Or wouldn't think of accessing to us, I'm having access to it. So at the moment, I am doing a workshop self esteem workshop. It's very simple. It's, you know, CBT mindfulness techniques. And what I'm trying to make it as affordable as possible, as a kind of a way into counseling and psychotherapy may be for people who are intimidated by it or don't, don't know what it is, or feel like they would like to try it, but don't know where to go and are planned for that. That's, that's where I like to be next.

Peter Blundell: 19:32

I mean, I think that's so important. And I think it's really difficult, isn't it? I think therapists in private practice, they feel like they need to charge certain amount to kind of make money and make a business but that can often make it very, very unaffordable for a lot of people. And I think, you know, it's such a wonderful thing to try and make it more accessible and offer stuff that's affordable for people so that everybody has access to that knowledge and understanding that we've got as counselors and psychotherapists I think that that's fantastic. Is that an online workshop? Or are you doing it in person? Or?

Maxine Walsh: 20:06

I'm trying to know in person first. And but Absolutely. I mean, here we are recording a podcast. You're in London. Are you in London?

Peter Blundell: 20:17

I'm in Liverpool,

Maxine Walsh: 20:18

you're in Liverpool, or you're only you're only

Peter Blundell: 20:21

We could wave to each other..

Maxine Walsh: 20:24

I'm in Dublin. You're in Liverpool. Here we are. We're doing a podcast. So, absolutely. I'd love to do it online. I'm just enough for somebody who worked in IT. I'm a little bit intimidated by technology. But I will. Definitely, it's, it's definitely something I'd like to do. Yeah.

Peter Blundell: 20:45

Well, I mean, you've been a natural on this podcast and all the technology has gone absolutely fine. It usually goes wrong for me.

Maxine Walsh: 20:53

You've made it easy.

Peter Blundell: 20:59

Oh, Maxine, I could talk to you all morning. But it's been absolutely wonderful just to get to know you a little bit better. And thank you for all of your hard work on the Therapist Connect account because it doesn't you know, it doesn't run itself and it's so nice to have someone with such uplifting energy on there every Monday so thank you.

Maxine Walsh: 21:17

It's great on that's what I would say to anybody who is thinking of doing something like this. It's actually it's great fun and it's brilliant getting to know lots of different people from all over the world. It's fantastic.

Peter Blundell: 21:28

Oh, brilliant. Thank you very much. Good luck for the future. You to, Peter, thank you.