Slowly Learnt Lessons in Compassion
- Michael Fitzgerald
- Jun 20, 2023
- 3 min read
I am honoured to be asked by Transition | Wellbeing & Sustainable Living Event in Longford to present my talk "Slowly Learnt Lessons In Compassion" on July 15th. This talk will cover both mental health advocacy and psychological tools available to people to improve their mental wellbeing.
I am happy to say that the reaction to this latest presentation has shown that the personal can resonate when it connects to the universal. Comments on the most recent talk included:
"Just a quick line to say that was one of the best presentations I have been honoured to listen to"
"I don’t normally attend stuff like that but OMG it was great."
" That really was amazing, best one I've been to."
"Thank you so much for sharing. Really appreciate the honesty and openness. It was very moving and resonated a lot with me."
"Michael, thank you so much for such an engaging, open and inspiring hour."
"Just a quick line to say that was one of the most honest, real and moving calls I have ever been privileged to attend. Thank You so much."
"Many thanks for sharing your story. Nearly didn't attend today, but so very glad I did!"
Outside of Life Coaching and Wellbeing coaching with my company Some Climb Coaching, I am also involved in mental health advocacy, music projects, via the eclective SomeRiseSomeFall, and other community initiatives all of which have compassion at their core. The advocacy work is very different to coaching as it involves sharing my experience, learnings and insights in the hope that these shared insights will help others carve out a better for themselves, loved ones or colleagues. In coaching, it is all about the client's hopes, experiences, strengths and values but hopefully the insights from my own journey, my emotional intelligence and coaching skills can facilitate the client to find their solutions.
Over the past 5 years I have given a number of presentations on achieving better mental health outcomes including.
“Not A Survivor” - presented to Mental Health Conference in University College Cork in November 2018. This presentation was aimed at mental health professionals and those dealing with ongoing mental health challenges or dealing with the impacts on their loved ones
“Achieving Better Mental Health Outcomes For Colleagues” - variations of this talk were presented to Society of Actuaries In Ireland, Central Bank of Ireland, KPMG Ireland and the UK Association of Consulting Actuaries over 2019 & 2020 and addressed the need for companies and management to incorporate mental wellbeing of staff into their business model.
"Slowly Learnt Lessons In Compassion" My latest mental health presentation looks more closely at the individual and examines how compassion, kindness and empathy can be combined with known psychological/coaching tools to ensure that individuals can look forward to better mental wellbeing even for those who are dealing with mental illness.
I now see compassion as a choice and a direction rather than an emotional reaction. What I want to share is my personal experience of dealing with mental health challenges and more importantly the learnings, hopes and tools I have stumbled from that from that experience.
Anyone who knows me well now that I'm mad ……about music. Any presentation I do contains musical references because I learned an emotional vocabulary for music that had served me well as I've come to understand the nature of mental wellbeing. Each of you will have your way of connecting to emotions and joy and I would encourage you to lean into anything that connects you and helps you move forward.
Any learnings I’ve come across are not unique to me and there are psychological models out there that validate my suggested approach. My hope is that sharing my serpentine and circuitous path and the learnings along the way, it might lead to a quicker and gentler path forward for others who are struggling or want to help those who are struggling.
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