Renee McDonald Public Page

03/02/2026

Hi from our little dog 🐕 🐶 Rosie. Rosie is a chihuahua, cross mini poodle - with lots of fluff - and she’s 2.
She’s missing her big brother, Barkus.
Barkus passed away, our black dog, on 9 January, the day after my mother passed away, after a long battle with cancer.
Ever the empath dog, like his owner, he died in the end from liver cancer - that was inoperable.
Our Holiday Season wasn’t the best, though having Rosie makes our days brighter.
It’s taken me time to process both of these losses. Barkus was such a great dog. Barkus was my mate and he used to hug me and cuddle me - and really support me - whenever I needed it.

You’ll be missed, our big hearted dog, Barkus.
Bless us and watch over us.
We pray for your soul - and my mothers too. And we ask for them to watch over us.
Barkus is buried in our yard with a number of items - what a legend he was.
Thank you Barkus for your service to our family 🤗
Mum, look after Barkus for us 🤗

03/02/2026

01/02/2026

Passing on … From Ken Campbell and Dr Kim Granland.

We are in very interesting times!

27/01/2026

In the U.S. right now, many people are living inside overlapping crises — political, social, medical, institutional, and deeply personal. What I’m noticing beneath the noise is not just division, but exhaustion. A fatigue that comes from being misnamed, reduced, or asked to contort oneself to fit systems that no longer feel humane or trustworthy.

I’ve lived with discrimination in many forms across my life — not only overt exclusion, but the quieter kinds that arrive through misrepresentation, moral pressure, and the denial of dignity. Often these are hidden behind language of “care,” “expertise,” “risk management,” or “what’s best.” Over time, this kind of reduction does real harm, especially to those already carrying loss or difference.

In my work, I hold a strong ethic: we must respect the dead and the living. We honour those who have died through remembrance and grief. But we also have a responsibility to protect the dignity, agency, and aliveness of those who are still here. When grief, fear, diagnosis, or authority are used to silence difference or override personhood, something essential is lost.

There is an existential question I return to often, especially in times like these:
Is life for the living — or for those slowly dying?

For me, this is not abstract. It is a daily orientation. I choose work that supports people to stay human, coherent, and ethically grounded in the midst of uncertainty — without hardening, becoming numb, becoming robotic or AI-driven, disappearing, or betraying their values to survive.

This is the space my work lives in.
And it’s the space I offer to those navigating these times with courage, grief, and care.

If this resonates, you’re not alone.

Feel free to reach out if you need anything at all.

27/01/2026

Over the past few years, many of us have been living inside overlapping crises — personal, professional, social, and systemic. In the U.S. especially, I see people grappling not only with uncertainty and division, but with a deeper question: how do we stay human, coherent, and ethically grounded when systems feel overwhelming or unsafe?

My work — including Rising with Butterfly Courage — has always been about this threshold: how people reclaim agency, dignity, and clarity after prolonged pressure, harm, or loss. Not through force or false positivity, but through integration, truth-telling, and care that does not erase the self.

I’m beginning to bring forward new work in this space — supporting individuals, leaders, and professionals who are navigating crisis without wanting to harden, disappear, or lose their values in the process.

If you’re feeling the weight of this moment and are seeking thoughtful, trauma-informed therapeutic coaching and guidance — not quick fixes — I welcome you to reach out.

There is another way to meet these times.
And you don’t have to do it alone.

If this resonates, feel free to connect or message me privately. I’m always open to thoughtful conversations about how we move forward with courage and care.

Contact me for a free no obligation conversation here:
www.reneemcdonald.com

26/01/2026

There is a kind of strength that doesn’t come from winning, proving, or holding everything together by force.
It comes from integration.
From gathering what has been split by fear, pressure, grief, or survival — and allowing it to belong again.

Sometimes unity isn’t found in families, systems, or agreement.
Sometimes it’s found in the quiet work of bringing ourselves back together — values, body, voice, care, and truth.

This is not false harmony.
It’s coherence.
And it’s where real strength begins.

Ní neart go cur le chéile.

25/01/2026

I hope you have had a good start to your year.

I have been working deeply over this summer holiday period myself about adjusting and readjusting my life post-loss. In addition, I’ve been working through some very deep concepts I’ll be bringing out.

Some things I’ve been working with chatGPT on and other things, I’ve been creatively focusing on.

There’s nothing like loss to remind you of what you have - and what you don’t.

I will be speaking more about the intersection of lived experience vs professional experience.

In addition, I’ll be speaking to the mid-point about why professional experience, qualifications and study STILL matters, though why combined with lived experience matters even more than before.

Today, here’s a quote I’ve worked on with AI, based on deep experience I’ve had with medicine and the other side of when medicine harms, not heals.

We can get all “moralistic” about why people “should” do things … though what if they can’t?

What if your very reasons of why someone “should” do something, is the very reason that they can’t.

If you don’t have someone’s history, you cannot comment on “what they should do” with their life, body, treatment, beliefs, or formalised care.