{"id":310,"date":"2022-05-18T22:49:04","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T22:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/?p=310"},"modified":"2023-06-30T00:24:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T00:24:53","slug":"where-did-wisdom-with-whiskers-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/?p=310","title":{"rendered":"Where did Wisdom With Whiskers come from?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE BEARD THAT GREW: <\/strong>Therapist Conal Healy let his beard grow a public display of mourning.
(Pictures from 2016-2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

WHILE working at the Tweed Daily News<\/strong>, Conal helped to raise \u2013 with his wife Anna \u2013 their two children. In 2014, Anna was diagnosed with lung cancer, she was treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and went into remission. In 2015, Anna was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was treated successfully. In January 2016, Anna was diagnosed with brain cancer, she died in June of that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conal went from husband to widower. Their children, motherless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of his grieving journey Conal decided not shave or get a haircut \u2013 it was a public display of mourning. In the months followed the death of his wife, the once-trimmed beard (and hair) grew into something resembling a \u201cfacial hedge\u201d. As his beard \u2013 his whiskers \u2013 grew, Conal gained wisdom about grief and loss, hence Wisdom with Whiskers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took Conal years to recover from the loss of his wife. That journey involved three psychologists, 12 months of intense mourning and 10 journals filled with writing, and helped to establish the foundations for his recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn my mind, I went mad (with grief) for a year. I cried when I needed to cry. I ate too much junk food. Made too many trips to the bottle shop.”<\/p>\nGrief survivor, Conal Healy.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my mind, I went mad (with grief) for a year. I cried when I needed to cry. I ate too much junk food. Made too many trips to the bottle shop. And watched too much bad TV. Despite all of those things, I kept going forward. I knew there were better days ahead,\u201d reflected Conal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was on the fourth anniversary of Anna\u2019s death in 2020 that Conal\u2019s long career in journalism came to an end. After four decades in newspapers, Conal had to find a new career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was made redundant, I knew my time in newspapers was over,\u201d said Conal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat could I do? I had reached 60, survived everything that life had thrown at me. I had been a refo, an Immo, husband, father, carer, survived grief, endured depression and anxiety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s when I realised I had an awful lot of Life Experiences and maybe I might be able to help other people\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Conal graduated with a Diploma of Counselling. He has recently completed a Art Therapy for Positive Wellness course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conal is also a registered therapist with the Australian Counselling Association. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Background:<\/strong> In 2013, Conal was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of being physically abused as a six-year old schoolboy in Ireland. In the course of his life, Conal has been treated for depression, anxiety and grief\/loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conal is currently grieving the loss of his mother, who died in March 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a migrant (and an economic-refugee) to Australia, Conal has been racially abused. He is currently in the process of becoming an Australia citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conal is now in a long-term relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EXPERIENCED:<\/strong> Therapist Conal Healy enjoying a bushwalk in the Tweed Valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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“I might be able to help other people.”<\/p>\n\u2014 Conal Healy, Survivor<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Hobbies:<\/strong> When Conal isn\u2019t working, he enjoys renovating at home, taking photos, travelling, reading, walking, bushwalking and throwing a squeaky toy for the family dog, Pip.<\/p>\n\n\n

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READY TO THROW THE BALL?<\/strong> Pip on a cold morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In my mind, I went mad (with grief) for a year. I cried when I needed to cry. I ate too much junk food. Made too many trips to the bottle shop. And watched too much bad TV.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[12,10,11,9,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wisdom-with-whiskers","8":"tag-beard","9":"tag-cancer","10":"tag-grief","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-wisdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2477,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/2477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}