Focusing Pathways

Laura Bavalics

Laura Bavalics is an early childhood educator, specialist in the science of play, and a drama teacher. She is a Certified Focusing Professional, Coordinator and a Focusing-oriented educator, who has been working with young children, parents, and professionals for over twenty-five years. She is a professional director of the Pendula inclusive kindergarten program at the Világszép  Foundation for Children in State Care in Hungary. She is also teaching at ELTE University, Hungary, at the College of Education. Laura was a member of the International Leadership Council at TIFI and currently is a member of the Board of Directors and the Children's Focusing Advisory Group at The International Focusing Institute. Find us on Instagram

Rob Foxcroft

About Rob by Rob: When I was three years old, a lodger from Egypt came to stay with my family for a year. He was warm, kind and playful. I was left with a strong feeling of friendliness for people from other backgrounds and cultures. By the time I was four I had come to find reading stories a big improvement on life. Music came a little later. I studied 'cello and piano playing, singing, conducting and composing music. Eventually I had a degree in music from the University of Cambridge. Since then I have taught music for fifty years, mostly by giving piano lessons.  I read 'Dibs in Search of Self' in 1972 and met the Person Centred Approach in 1975. In 1981, during a lesson in the Alexander Technique with Patrick Macdonald, suddenly all my trouble and sadness fell utterly away. I found myself for a few hours just simply happy. I began to explore meditation when I was in Australia in 1983, met focusing in 1987, had one to one focusing sessions with Gene Gendlin in 1988, had personal guidance in meditation from Akong Rinpoche in 1993, and completed a training in spiritual accompaniment with Brian Thorne in 2012. I have been a Focusing Coordinator for many years and have trained many people.  In 2018 I published a book about empathic listening: 'Feeling Heard, Hearing Others'. Now I'm writing a little book about meditation.  I hope to go on teaching for another twenty years. Maybe longer. My teenagers tell their friends: 'He's really old. But he has a very strong inner child.'   You can buy my book by writing directly to me:   https://www.meditativelistening.com/ [https://www.meditativelistening.com/] or by going to my publishing house (now doesn't that sound GRAND!!!):  ANTONINE BOOKS – Rob Foxcroft [https://robfoxcroft.com/book/]   Find us on Instagram

Tony Bates

Dr Tony Bates is a Clinical Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at University College Dublin. He was the Head of the Department of Psychology at St James’s Hospital, Dublin, for 30 years. Following psychotherapy training at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford, he established and directed the MSc in Cognitive Psychotherapy at TCD. In 2006, he established Jigsaw (The National Centre for Youth Mental Health) to address the mental health needs of young people. He is patron of the Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland (MTAI) and currently works with Focus Ireland to provide trauma-informed care in homeless settings.    Tony is the author of Breaking the Heart Open: Shaping the Life of a Psychologist, and Coming through Depression: A Mindful Path to Recovery  Find us on Instagram

Carmel Heaney

Carmel Heaney was born in Dublin on the 21st July, 1924, the eldest child of Rosanna and Timothy O'Leary. She was educated at the Holy Faith convent, Glasnevin and at University College Dublin from which she graduated with an M.A. in History. After some years as a junior Civil Servant and in radio programming, she entered the Department of External Affairs (later the Department of Foreign Affairs). Her foreign postings were in San Francisco, Geneva and Boston where she was Consul General. She was a delegate to several sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations in the 1970s.  In 1970 Carmel married Henry Heaney, a Boston architect. She retired in 1989 and lives in Dublin. She leads a weekly philosophical discussion group, The Colloquy, and is an occasional contributor to the Irish Times.  Find us on Instagram

Myriam el Kettani

Myriam el Kettani worked in the corporate world for over twenty years before training in humanistic psychotherapy and Focusing. She is a Focusing Oriented Therapist, and a person-centred practitioner. Myriam facilitates humanistic encounter groups for adults and/or adolescents. She also facilitates leadership support and collective intelligence development groups. Myriam lives in Morocco. Focusing Oriented Therapy by Neil Friedman is available on World of Books and Amazon. Find us on Instagram