19/08/2026
People often ask why I started the Tara Centre.
The answer goes back much further than 2012 when we opened our doors for the first time.
Truthfully, having experienced the pain of forced migration, separation and loss as a child, much of my own life had been shaped by a search for safety, connection and belonging. From a very young age my quest was to understand the root cause of pain and suffering, and what helps people and communities flourish; what could help me heal and flourish.
I studied Law, Psychology and Criminology, volunteered in women's refuges and recovery houses for women and children. I worked as a researcher in health research and a tutor in a Medical School. I worked in communities experiencing deep poverty, marginalisation and social exclusion, trying to understand the impact of inequalities and how we could create lasting change in our communities through grassroots action. My PhD research was dedicated to this quest.
At the same time, my understanding of trauma was growing as I dedicated many years to researching and putting into practice what I was learning. I eventually trained in the modalities that had helped me - and set up the Centre with the mission to increase access to therapeutic support to those who would otherwise not be able to pay.
Over the years I learnt that what happens to those of us living with the effects of trauma, poverty, discrimination, displacement or loss is a deep sense of disconnection from self, from one another and from life itself. It creates a disruption, a rupture, which you can't find your way back from without the love and support of other people. We are wired for connection and the isolation and loneliness we experience through trauma only serves to keep us locked in.
So the Tara Centre began as a small experiment: offering low-cost therapies whilst creating a space where people could come together, make connections, explore their creativity and feel part of something larger than themselves. A place of refuge. A place of friendship. A place of love and community. Perhaps, in some ways, the kind of place I needed myself when I was younger.
(excerpt from a page I've written on our website about the development of the Tara Centre - feel free to check it out)
