Insight Matters Dil Wickremasinghe

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Coming soon

This live recording of the Insight Matters podcast comes to
you from Dublin’s Royal College of Physicians, for the launch of the
Participating People report, which is a collaboration between The Wheel and Carnegie UK Trust.
For this episode, we are focusing on active citizenship, and
how citizens can proactively help to shape the society around them. To help
with this, we have a phenomenal panel of guests who are going to share their
story with you and no doubt by the end of this podcast you will be ready to
start your own revolution!


Fr. Peter McVerryFr. McVerry is the founder of the Peter McVerry Trust, which has progressed from
a three-bedroom flat in Ballymun to becoming one of the country’s largest
organisations responding to the issue of homelessness. In 2018, the charity
worked with over 5,800 people and was active in 14 local authorities across
Ireland.


Peter and Dil discuss how Peter started the Peter McVerry
Trust, how it all started from taking in and helping a nine year-old, who was
sleeping on the streets. Then, as one thing led to another—as more problems
arose, and the trust began to help with them as they could—it grew into what it
is now.
Salome Mbugua
Salome Mbugua is Head of Operations and Strategy with AkiDwA . In June 2018 Salome was appointed by the Tánaiste to chair the
working group on Ireland’s Third National Action Plan on Women Peace and
Security. Salome was also recently appointed to the Irish Human Rights and
Equality Commission by President Michael D. Higgins.


Salome and Dil discuss how Salome’s curiosity and feeling of
isolation in Ireland, led her to seek out migrant women to learn what their
experience living in Ireland was like, which then led to AkiDwA – a network for
migrant women. Salome also discusses some of the challenges surrounding
migrants in Ireland including racism, and inequality.



Molly Mercier Redmond
Molly is just 16 and is already involved with two
organisations, which she discusses with Dil: Schools Climate Action Network
– a network of teachers and students who are fighting for climate justice. SCAN
has helped to organise protests and strikes for climate justice. Molly is also
involved with Fridays For Future,
for which she was recently at a conference in Switzerland, where representatives
from all over Europe met to come up with European climate change demands. Molly
is also a delegate for the Youth Assembly, started by RTE. The Youth Assembly
will discuss proposals for Climate Change and present these to the Dáil.
Delegates from the Assembly will also be on the Late Late Show.



Stephen Teap
Stephen Teap is a leading
Cervical Check campaigner and the husband of the late Irene Teap. Stephen was
instrumental in the launch of the 221 Plus
Patient Support Group, which help victims directly affected by the Cervical
Check screening failure, as well as their families. He is one of three patient
representatives on the Cervical Check Steering Committee.


Stephen and Dil discuss Stephen’s
experience with his wife’s death from cervical cancer. He explains how tests
were read incorrectly, and important information was withheld from his wife. He
also discusses the lack of support for women with cervical cancer and the need
he felt to do something about it.

Dil and the panel discuss role
models that have inspired them to be kind and proactive in their community, be
it teachers, parents or other members of their community. Dil also asks each
member of the panel how they can keep going in the face of the negativity we
see today on the news and in everyday life; Molly explains why she doesn’t
think Ireland will be able to successfully combat the climate crisis; Dil asks
each member of the panel why they think more people don’t get actively involved
with causes important to them; Dil also asks each member what advice they would
have for people who want to be more proactive citizens but don’t know where to
start. Dil also discusses the s

On today’s podcast we are
celebrating Dublin
Pride 2019 and we’ll be joined by special guests, not to
mention we’ve even got a fabulous live audience to say… HAPPY PRIDE!



Every year globally the
wonderful LGBTQI+ community comes together to celebrate Pride in a
burst of rainbow flags, doc martins, glitter and yes feather boas!



Joining us first is Clodagh Leonard, Chairperson of Dublin Pride and an enthusiastic human rights
activist. We are also thrilled to be also joined by Grand Marshall of Dublin
Pride 2019, Will St Ledger! Will is a Dublin based
artist/activist – now known as an ARTIVIST – famous for his iconic and thought-provoking street art.



In this part of the
episode, Dil, Anne Marie, Clodagh and Will discuss Will’s first Pride in London
and how Dublin Pride has evolved over the years. They discuss the theme for
this year’s Pride: Rainbow Revolution, and the history that inspired it, as
well the effort to make Pride as accessible as possible for everyone. They also
discuss what can still be improved about Pride and about the work that ACT UP does to help bring an end to the HIV crisis. We also hear Clodagh and
Will’s coming out stories!

For the next section of
the episode, we are joined by Noah Halpin, who founded and runs This Is Me: a grassroots campaign for improved healthcare for transgender and
non-binary people in Ireland. We are also joined by Insight Matters very own psychotherapist
and counsellor, Jim Hutton who has been working
with the Trans community for many years.



In this second part, Dil,
Anne Marie, Noah and Jim discuss Noah’s experience with trans help in Ireland –
how he was on the waiting list for HRT for 2 years, and how his referral letter
for this was lost three times – which led to him creating This Is Me. They
discuss the amazing work This Is Me has done, including protests and direct
action, and how this led them to meeting with Simon Harris. They also discuss
the barriers faced by trans people to get the help they need, problems with
therapy for trans people, the value and benefit of group therapy, and the most
important things a therapist needs to provide for a trans person:
understanding, self-education and language.



For the final part of the
episode, we are joined by Grace McManus who is a newly elected
Sinn Fein local counsellor in Bray. A proud gay woman, she helped establish
Bray Refugee Solidarity. And we are also joined by Paula Fagan, CEO of LGBT Ireland – who has been working on LGBT rights for many
years.



In this final part, Dil,
Anne Marie, Grace and Paula discuss what got Grace into politics and her
experience with it so far, the legislative changes that still need to happen
for the LGBTQI+ community, the current progress that is being made toward these
changes, and where should young activists focus on. They also discuss
homelessness in the LGBTQI+ community – often because young people are thrown
out of their homes after they come out to their parents. We also hear stories
from Paula, Dil and Anne Marie about their first Pride!



If you need to
talk to someone, call us now on 01-891 0703 or email info@insightmatters.ie for a confidential discussion and initial assessment with
one of our senior therapists. Alternatively please fill in the online booking
form (www.insightmatters.ie/book-online/) and we will contact you within 24
hours.

Today on The Insight Matters Podcast, we are super excited
and thrilled to welcome Jo Ryder!



 



Jo is a sex therapist, who works with individuals and
couples who are straight, gay and all sexual preferences in between!



 



In this episode, Dil, Anne Marie and Jo discuss what made Jo
want to become a sex therapist, her experience with sex education in France and
how this differed from sex education in Ireland, as well as common
misconceptions about what sex therapy is.



 



They also discuss the most common issues that present in sex
therapy, the impact of Catholicism on sex education in Ireland, and what Jo’s therapeutic
process is like, as well as the importance of sexual autonomy.



 



Find out more about Jo, her approach and the services she
offers at joryder.ie.



 



If you need to talk to someone, call us
now on 01-891 0703 or email info@insightmatters.ie
for a confidential discussion and initial assessment with one of our senior
therapists. Alternatively please fill in the online booking form (www.insightmatters.ie/book-online/)
and we will contact you within 24 hours.

Today, we are actually speaking with a Hollywood star – we
are very excited to have the extremely talented Amy De Bhrún!



 



She has amazing achievements already in TV, Film and theatre
and of course



another talent she has blessed us with is her writing. This
leads us onto her recent project and one that we are honoured to celebrate
today “I See You” – which tells the incredible true story of Limerick-born Lady
Mary Heath and has a particular focus on cycles of female oppression and
trauma, which here at Insight Matters of course always interests us.



 



In this episode, Dil, Anne Marie, and Amy discuss how Amy
looks after her mental health, how Amy’s family have supported her in her
career, the story behind Lady Mary Heath—challenges she faced, and struggles she
endured—and what made Amy want to write about her, and the reaction that the
show has received.



 



“I See You” is on in Belltable Limerick on the 26th
of April. For more information, go to www.ladybudproductions.com.



 



If you need to talk to someone, call us
now on 01-891 0703 or email info@insightmatters.ie
for a confidential discussion and initial assessment with one of our senior
therapists. Alternatively please fill in the online booking form (www.insightmatters.ie/book-online/)
and we will contact you within 24 hours.