Denise Conway on Life, Happiness and a Terrible Sexual Assault

In one of the most powerful and moving episodes of Where Do I Go From Here, Annmarie and Katie sit down with the extraordinary Aliesha Caffrey — hairdresser, icon, and one of the most courageous women you will ever hear speak. Aliesha grew up on the Curragh in Kildare, the oldest of nine children, with a father in the army and a mother who was her greatest champion. From the very earliest age, Aliesha knew she was different. While her brothers played football, she played hopscotch with the girls, wore her mother's shoes, and simply felt like a girl — because she was one. But growing up in 1970s and 80s Ireland, being different came at a price. Aliesha opens up about the cruelty she faced as a teenager — the slagging, the name-calling, the cigarette burns on the bus, and one devastating night on the Curragh when a group of soldiers followed her home and subjected her to one of the most dehumanising attacks imaginable. An attack whose smell and shame stayed with her for decades. And yet, through all of it, Aliesha never stopped being Aliesha. She tells the story of travelling to England in her mid-twenties to begin her treatment — years of assessments, psychiatrists, hormones, and waiting. She describes the morning of her surgery in Brighton, walking alone along the beach with twenty cigarettes and Whitney Houston playing in her ears, knowing that when she came back out of those clinic doors, she would be fully and completely herself for the first time in her life. This episode covers the full arc of an extraordinary life — the unconditional love and acceptance of her family, who embraced her at every stage; her sister's wedding where she came home as Aliesha for the first time; her return to Newbridge in 1997 to open her own salon; her television appearances including the Late Late Show with Gay Byrne; her beautiful thirty-two year marriage to Jonathan, who she lost just eighteen months ago; and the grief she is still walking through now, with the same resilience and honesty that has carried her through everything. Aliesha also shares her personal perspective on where things stand today — the puberty blockers, the faster processes, the changing conversation — and why, in her own experience, knowing who you truly are has to come before anything else. Her name, Aliesha, means I will never leave you in Irish mythology. And she never has — never left herself, never abandoned who she was, even when the world tried its hardest to make her. This is her story. And it is one you will not forget. This episode is proudly sponsored by Inner Therapy, Naas and Portlaoise — offering EMDR, couples therapy, CBT and neuro-affirmative care. Visit innertherapy.ie Keywords: Where Do I Go From Here podcast, mental health Ireland, identity, self-acceptance, gender identity Ireland, resilience, grief, loss, Late Late Show, Inner Therapy, Annmarie Gray, Katie Richardson, Aliesha Caffrey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3,408 characters — well under 4,000. Here it is: In this powerful and deeply personal episode of Where Do I Go From Here, Annmarie and Katie are joined by Marianne Murphy — psychotherapist, EMDR consultant, clinical supervisor, EMDR Europe trainer in training, and founder of Trauma Matters, Ireland's first online EMDR psychotherapy practice. Marianne's story is one of extraordinary resilience. Growing up in an Ireland where corporal punishment was common and safety was far from guaranteed, she developed the hyper-vigilance and deep social anxiety that would shape her early life. She opens up honestly about leaving school without direction, spending a decade as cabin crew with Aer Lingus, before an inner calling led her to sell everything and travel alone to India — where a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in the Himalayas became the most profound experience of her life. Back in Ireland, Marianne built a life, fell in love, started a family — and then lost almost everything. A relationship breakdown left her a single mother at 34, with no home and no income. The death of her father pushed her into one of the darkest depressions of her life. She speaks candidly about how real those dark thoughts felt, how shame compounded everything, and the slow process of crawling back — one good day at a time — through therapy. That lived experience led her to train as a psychotherapist, working with street homeless drug addicts and members of An Garda Síochána before setting up her own practice in 2010. In 2015, she discovered EMDR — and everything changed. In this episode, Marianne explains EMDR therapy in clear and accessible terms — what it is, how it works at the level of the nervous system, and why it reaches what talk therapy sometimes cannot. Topics covered include trauma healing, PTSD treatment, childhood trauma, developmental trauma, the nervous system and mental health, financial trauma, childhood humiliation, attachment issues, EMDR for ADHD, EMDR for neurodivergence, online therapy, post-traumatic growth, and why so many high achievers and perfectionists are carrying unprocessed pain they have never named as trauma. Through a powerful real-life case example, Marianne shows exactly how EMDR therapy works in practice — reprocessing the past, addressing present triggers, and using the future template to help clients step into a completely new version of themselves. Marianne also shares the story of founding Trauma Matters — built from scratch at 55 with support from the Local Enterprise Board, grown to 12 therapists and over a thousand clients in just a year and a half, and recognised this summer with an Emerging Business Women Award. Her message — it is never too late to heal, to start over, or to find your purpose. Life is not a straight line. And on the other side of trauma, post-traumatic growth is always possible. Find Marianne Murphy and Trauma Matters at traumamatters.ie Keywords: EMDR therapy Ireland, trauma therapy Ireland, online EMDR, PTSD treatment Ireland, childhood trauma healing, mental health podcast Ireland, therapy for ADHD, nervous system healing, post-traumatic growth, Where Do I Go From Here podcast, Inner Therapy, Annmarie Gray, Katie Richardson, Marianne Murphy, Trauma Matters This episode is proudly sponsored by Inner Therapy, Naas and Portlaoise — offering EMDR, couples therapy, CBT and neuro-affirmative care. Visit innertherapy.ie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Annmarie and Katie are joined by the wonderful Karen Murphy — founder of the Institute of Couples Therapy and the trainer behind the very diploma both hosts completed this year. It's Karen's first ever podcast appearance, and it's an episode packed with insight, honesty, and genuine emotion. Karen takes us back to the beginning of her own journey into couples work, the lack of dedicated couples therapy training in Ireland, and why she eventually set up her own Institute — now the only organisation in the country offering ongoing training and community support specifically for couples therapists. The conversation moves through some of the biggest themes in relationship therapy today:

Annmarie and Katie are back — and they have a lot to catch you up on. In this honest and heartfelt episode, the girls reflect on the last 18 months of building two thriving therapy practices, the invisible work behind the scenes, and the sacrifices that come with being ambitious women, mothers and business partners. They open up about mom guilt, money mindset, burnout, and why they refuse to carry shame around success. They also dive into their newly completed diploma in couples therapy — Ireland's first of its kind — exploring why two people can experience the same moment in completely different ways, and why that's not always a problem. Plus, they share details of their powerful new training programme for neurodiverse adolescents and their parents — and why nervous system regulation is at the heart of everything they do. This one is raw, real and deeply relatable. Whether you're a therapist, a parent, a business owner or simply someone trying to find their way — this episode is for you. Proudly sponsored by Inner Therapy, Naas & Portlaoise. Visit innertherapy.ie for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 4 of Season 4, Katie and AnnMarie are joined by a familiar face from the Inner Therapy team – Eoin Stephens, an experienced psychotherapist, supervisor, and educator with over 30 years in the fields of mental health, addiction, and disability.