Rachel McMonagle Counselling & Facilitation

12/09/2025

Sometimes it can be difficult to sit with the tensions that exist in our emotions.

We are only human and these tensions will arise at different times in our lives depending on what is going on.

Allow yourself to sit with these tensions, as you navigate your way through those feelings.

I always find it helpful to talk through, with someone you trust, how you are really feeling, as often this can bring clarity.

11/09/2025

I feel privileged that I get the opportunity to do the work I do. Thank you to everyone at Sacred Heart PS Derry for your willingness to engage ✨️

🎉Congratulations to our wonderful supervisory staff who recently completed training that focused on how to best support our pupils at lunch time in the playground and the canteen.🎉

⭐Thank you to Rachel Mc Monagle for facilitating the training for our staff.⭐

09/09/2025

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note for anyone that rings my phone and I can't answer, for whatever reason.

Please leave a voicemail if you wish me to return your call. Due to the nature of my work and protecting confidentiality, I won't return your call unless you have given me permission to do so.

Many thanks,
Rachel ❤

26/08/2025

✨️✨️Journey Within Retreat✨️✨️

Expression of Interest for January 2026

I am now inviting participants to show an expression of interest for the next Journey Within Retreat, which I hope to hold in January.

The Retreat will be filled with group discussions, exploring, sharing of Life Histories, relaxation and down time and the opportunity to explore a bit in nature. As well as beautiful food and social time together.

If this is something that interests you then reach out, there will be limited spaces due to the nature of my work.

Once I have a rough idea of interest I can book and release dates. The below video is of January 2025's participants.
Rachel ❤️

26/08/2025

Struggling with life’s challenges? You don’t have to do it alone.

At Rachel McMonagle Counselling & Facilitation, I provide a safe, compassionate space to explore your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Whether you’re facing stress, anxiety, grief, or relationship struggles, I’m here to help you find the clarity and healing you seek and deserve.

🌱 Support for individuals and groups
🌱 Personalised therapy tailored to your needs
🌱 A non-judgemental, confidential space to grow.

Take the first step towards a brighter, more balanced life.

Get in touch today.

✨️New client availability from Tuesday 9th September ✨️

Rachel ❤️

25/08/2025

Today, I had the privilege of working with the teachers and classroom assistants of Sacred Heart PS in delivering a full day of training, focused on self-care, challenges for teachers and assistants around stress management, trauma informed practice, and strategies for supporting challenging behaviour in the classroom when it arises.

The training was grounded in empathy and understanding, offering realistic techniques that support both staff wellbeing and pupil development.

Thank you to all staff for your engagement throughout the day, and to the school leadership for prioritising this training for the benefit of both pupils and staff. Thank you also to Niall and the staff for helping me set up.

I had a really enjoyable day with you all. It was wonderful to see everyone making their own stress relieving, aromatherapy rollerballs. Hope you all sleep tonight 😴

The learning is never done - at the end of the day we are all here to give children the best chance at life.

Until the next one!

Rachel ❤️

22/08/2025

Take it easy and remember...

You are only one person 🥰

20/08/2025

One day they are this size and the next they are preparing to collect their GCSE results tomorrow. I am sure there will be many households today with teenagers anxious to find out how they've done, my house included. I have one preparing to start his 5th year in secondary school and at the other end, one preparing to start her school journey next week.

Tests do not define you and they certainly don't prove your worth. I failed my 11 plus and I also came home early from university because it wasn't for me, at that time. All those twists and turns in my journey, lead me to where I am today. 2 degrees later (one of which I started in my late 20's) and running my own business for the past 9 years. Education is important, but so is finding your own way in the world and that may not always mean the conventional way.

So, if you have teenagers fretting about tomorrow's results, remind them that it is not the end. If their results aren't favourable, it is not a failure, it is a redirection. If we teach children of any age that every blip in the road is a 'failing' we run the risk of them developing learned helplessness, giving up at every hurdle. It's our job when a child believes they can't, to show them that they can, one step at a time.

'I took the road less travelled by and that has made all the difference' Robert Frost

08/08/2025

There are moments when life feels too heavy to manage and it takes all your strength just to get through the day. It’s in those times that the right kind of understanding and support can make all the difference.

If you’re in that place, reach out.

You deserve to be heard and not go through it alone.

Rachel ❤️

06/08/2025

Thanks Orla for capturing a snapshot of our weekend!

I am still processing what was yet another fantastic retreat, all made possible by the participants willing to embrace all that was ❤️

04/08/2025

💫 Deep Dialogue Retreat 💫

This weekend, women gathered, not just to talk, but to truly see and be seen. We stepped into deep dialogue, peeled back layers of self, and met each other with courage, openness, and honesty.

In nature’s quiet, we held one another with compassion. In conversation’s depth, we found hope, discomfort, searching and longing.
And in our honesty, we discovered that this is only the beginning, the tip of the iceberg of all there is still to explore.

We ended our retreat by creating therapeutic aromatherapy candles, each one holding the light of this journey. A light we now carry home, to remind us that the work has only just begun.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for showing up for yourselves and each other. It truly was a beautiful weekend.

Be gentle with yourselves this week
Rachel ✨💛

29/07/2025

As we visited Famagusta in Cyprus last week, the wreckage of what happened on 20th July 1974 still stands. Families, lives, homes and businesses all destroyed, everything left as it was that day. What was once a flourishing town, stands frozen in time, as a visual reminder that the past is still very much the present.

My son paused on the bustling beach, with a stark contrast to his right of the ghost town that exists today, untouched after 51 years. A metaphorical reminder that the 2 world's of past and present, are often one of the same.

The past may not be happening now, but it's effects can still live on, in your body, in your reactions, in the way you see the world.
That’s not weakness, and it’s not a choice. It’s how trauma works.

You don’t have to pretend it’s all behind you.
Healing isn’t about erasing the past, it’s about learning how to carry it differently, so it no longer leads the way.

This takes time, support, and patience. None of it means you’ve failed.

It means you’re human.