Counselling, Psychotherapy and Clinical Supervision MIACP. Training Workshops CPD. Family Systems Co
Norah Finn has worked with people using alternative practices since 1996. In 2000 she trained as a Psychotherapist to add to her numerous qualifications. Having founded Alethea Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Training Services in 2004, Norah then founded Alethea Holistic and Healing Services in 2010. Our clients can receive many different treatments from psychotherapy, family constellation work, c
31/05/2026
FREE FREE FREE - this furniture is looking for a home. If anyone has a van and wanted to take it away in one swipe, or knows anyone who may want it, you’re more than welcome to it. It’s all in perfect condition. Might be a great support to someone. Would need to be picked up asap. Get in touch, Norah 0851277002 💜
NORAH FINN THERAPY HAS MOVED! 💜
I am delighted to inform you that has moved to a new premises:
Bawnogue Community Centre
Bawnogue Road
Clondalkin
D22 DY68
📞 085 127 7002
📞 (01) 457 6734
I will be seeing clients in my new space from Tuesday, 2nd June, and I am really looking forward to welcoming everyone there.
The centre has a lovely bright reception area, and the staff are incredibly welcoming. If you arrive a little early for your appointment, feel free to come in, relax, and enjoy a cuppa while you wait.
My therapy room is a beautiful, calm and peaceful space, created for client comfort and wellbeing in mind. I can’t wait to welcome you there.
I would like to express my thanks to .ie for the past four years. I will miss the people, the friendships, and my wonderful work neighbours. To the person moving into my old room, I wish you every success and happiness there. To my friends and work neighbours that I’ve being privileged to get to know over the past 4 years, I will miss you. Thank you for the support, chats, and laughs. Please remember - I’m only around the corner, so please do drop in anytime.
And a very warm hello to Jennie McGreal, Manager, and all the staff at Bawnogue Community Centre. Bawnogue has been a valued community hub for over 30 years and is a hive of activity, connection, and support. I feel privileged to be welcomed in. They are an outstanding team of people. I feel so at home here already. Thank you. Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about community, so I am delighted to become part of the excellent services already offered .ycc.
I look forward to continuing to support individuals & organisations through:
• Counselling
• Psychotherapy
• Clinical Supervision
• Choice Theory Training
• Training & Therapeutic Workshops
Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey. I look forward to welcoming both existing and new clients to my new work home at Bawnogue Community Centre.
Norah Finn
- Counsellor.
- Psychotherapist.
- Clinical Supervisor.
- All areas covered.
- Systemic Therapeutic Facilitator.
- Addiction.
- Choice Theory Irel
28/05/2026
I will be out of the office from June 13th - 29th. Please get in touch if you wish to book an appointment before I head away - ph: 085-1277002. Much thanks. I hope you’re all keeping well. Norah 💜
EXCLUSION, IS PROBABLY THE CRUELEST EMOTION to cause another human being. It is the tactic of a bully. It is the hardest of emotions to process. It interrupts us from functioning in effective ways. The brain registers exclusion as deep pain. It does not know any difference between physical or emotional injury. Don’t allow yourself to walk away from another who’s hurting as a result of exclusion. It takes courage to stand up for another, but what’s the alternative? To leave another soul hurting like that? Don’t be a part of pushing someone over a ledge that they’re already too close to.
We cannot control how others treat people, but we can control how we’ll respond to bullying behaviour. Be someone that won’t allow another soul be alone in that pain. “I seen what happened”, “it’s not okay”, “I’m here”, “I’m with you”, “let’s go have a coffee”, “I care about you”, are some of the messages we can give another to support them to breathe easily again. Being left with that emotion alone is way too big for anyone, no matter how strong you perceive them.
Be a human that won’t be a part of that toxic dynamic. You may only be one person, but you can make a difference to another soul. You’ll never go wrong when you do the right thing. And it’s always the right thing to stand with those who are bullied.
Therapy supports us in finding ourself again after exclusion. To find our sense of belonging and confidence in this world again. 💜
BREAK THE CYCLE OF ABUSE 💜
People who are abusive have narcissistic traits. They don’t respect boundaries. By all means have healthy boundaries, but when you’re dealing with an abusive person they don’t really care about your boundaries.
Many people will attempt to explain how they wish to be treated, but to an abusive person, being treated with dignity and basic human rights really won’t matter to them. Demanding that they honor your boundaries is futile, unless they see a benefit for themselves.
We will not get love, respect, or be treated as we would in any normal healthy relationship. We will only get scraps when they feel that it’s in their interest to give them to you. They are abusers and will trample all over your needs to meet theirs.
They are in control of their behavior and they decide what loving attention you will receive. It is not a mutually loving dynamic. It is not wise to attempt to reason with someone who has no empathy, a sense of entitlement, and feels morally superior to others.
Don’t engage or reason. Don’t ask questions like “why are you treating me that way?”. How many times have you asked that question? Did you ever get an honest answer? Someone who uses abusive tactics will have achieved the desired outcome by you responding in this way. Your hurt and confusion is a twisted form of gaslighting.
Addressing bad behavior with someone who has chosen it disempowers you. That is not a boundary. That is you looking for an explanation from an abusive person. No explanation can justify that type of behavior.
Its is so sad but accepting that you’re going to get scraps is the best way to conserve your own energy. You cannot control how they behave, but you can control how you’ll respond. Hurtful and as unacceptable as it is, you cannot expect good behavior from an abuser.
Get support. Start talking. Educate yourself. Repeated bad behavior becomes a norm. It forms a trauma bond. You are being psychologically manipulated and conditioned. It breaks down our reality and chips away at self esteem. Recovery from abuse takes time. You can start the process today. Don’t struggle alone 💜
26/05/2026
Every so often, we get a book that tells a story that has to be told, but the subject matter is an entanglement of a deep and painful nature that we wouldn’t know how to express the deeper loss, truths, held within. And , has managed to do this with “Everything that is beautiful”. So exquisitely. So honourably.
This book impacted me deeply. Not just because I know and love the legend of a woman that is Louise Nealon, but I’m dealing with these dynamics every day in my counselling room. These dynamics are within our families, and the generations that went before us. They’re told through hardness, and there is no healing in hardness. In hardness the legacy continues.
There’s no stone left unturned in this novel. But it’s clear that the story is told through the heart of an author who has managed to maintain her own softness in life. This is not Louise’s own story, but yet, it is every woman’s story. I love this book.
I don’t know how Louise does it, but she manages to tell stories with difficult dynamics through a humour that leads to laugh out loud moments. I’d highly recommended.
You have done an amazing job here Louise. I admire you so deeply. 💜
These are everyday issues that women face. That I face as a woman. That my female friends face. That my daughter-in-laws face. This is not a jibe at men. I love men. I have sons. And a grandson. I know so many wonderful men that I am so safe with. I admire men.
This is far beyond gender. This is about equality. My need to feel as safe as men do in this world. But this is our reality as women. This is just insight into getting into a taxi? Straight away watching this I’m thinking of other things I do if I was getting that Taxi and it was late at night.
We do these things automatically. It’s what we need to do to protect ourself. Its survival. And I can guarantee you that we all as women have many stories to tell of where we were scared, panicked, even hurt.
So when we try to express or inform you of how overwhelming it can be, we do that in the hope that you’ll be a part of the changes that need to happen. We are not personally putting your gender down. We’re asking for your support in highlighting change.
So men, please don’t jump straight into defence mode. Women are not attacking you when we express our experiences. We’re trying to communicate the difficult realities our gender face, in the hope for change. You have nothing to defend yourself about - or do you? And if so, there’s whole different journey you need to go on with that.
Man and woman, give a follow. I think it’s a great page to allow us to see some of the realities we navigate daily as women. 💜
NEVER ALLOW YOURSELF to make a beggar out of you. People will treat you according to their values, but you’ll respond according to yours.
A person who knows their worth is empowered. Ask once - if you don’t like the reply, don’t go begging. You’ll never have to beg someone who truly values your presence.
It takes all kinds to make this world. Find your people. In the right circle, you’ll feel respected, valued, seen, and heard. If you constantly have to work hard for respect, you may be in the wrong company.
Respect is something respectful people naturally give. It flows from who they are. Don’t waste your time trying to change anyone - and you don’t have the right to anyway. If that’s how they choose to live, leave them to it. It defines them, not you.
See situations for what they are and act accordingly. It’s not personal. It’s not all about you.
Find the circle where you feel the psychological safety of your tribe. Where respect and value isn’t something that you need to fight for, it’s simply that tribes way of being.
If it’s hard work, it’s not working. Let it go! Acceptance is letting go of the hope that things could have being different.
Therapy can support you in creating healthy boundaries for yourself. 🌻
YOU NEVER HAVE TO second guess the behaviour of someone who wants you to know that you matter to them.
You don’t get to choose how others will treat you, but you do get to choose how you’ll respond.
That’s where personal agency comes in.
You can:
• step back,
• ask directly for clarity,
• set boundaries,
• stop overexplaining yourself,
• or leave cycles that repeatedly harm you.
Seeing “the whole picture” can hurt because it forces reality to replace hope. But clarity, even painful clarity, is often healthier than staying trapped in confusion.
23/05/2026
IT ONLY TAKES ONE TO BREAK THE CYCLE 💜
Passive aggressive behavior can be exhausting. Often the person using it will appear to agree with a request, yet have no intention whatsoever of following through with it. They will tell you that everything is okay yet display a cynical, sullen or hostile attitude. There is a disconnect between what they do and what they say. They will agree that they have failed to do something yet come up with excuses and reasoning when they do it again and again. They have an inability to take responsibility for their actions and will behave using avoidance.
You may not immediately recognize these actions as aggressive but with time you will feel the hostility the passive aggressive holds towards another. They behave in ways where they don’t have to address or resolve their discontent. They fail to address issues head on and carry a deep seated resentment that leaks outwards. They have a permanent negative or victim attitude. It is a silent aggression that is tangible.
Anger is a healthy response in situations. If we were not invited to express anger as children we found ineffective ways of expressing it. We can, and more than likely have, all used passive aggressive behavior. If the behavior continues without awareness it silently kills relationships.
The first step to addressing it is to recognize it. When we grow in awareness we will recognize it in self, and therefore in others. Once we break the cycle it’s hard to be entangled in it again. Our circle becomes emotionally healthier for us. Educating ourself is a huge part of that growth.
Living in a passive aggressive relationship is like dealing with a sullen child on a daily basis. There is no “adulting” in passive aggressive connections. Therapy supports us to recognize and respond in unhealthy relational dynamics. This dynamic will not go away alone. Don’t carry it alone. You are not going crazy, you’re caught up in very ineffective and unhealthy ways of relating. It only takes one to break the cycle - you can choose to be the cycle breaker. 💜