Tairseach history 2017-2025

Gestation

Ireland SE (ISE) - the organisation that brought Somatic Experiencing to Ireland - was established in 2012 by Bríd Keenan with the clear and explicit intention of supporting the Peace Process in Ireland and addressing the specificity of trauma in Ireland, in particular inter-and transgenerational trauma resulting from centuries of British colonisation.

As students join the SE training on the beautiful Antrim coast and are welcomed as Gaeilge and in English by Bríd, the excitement and delight of meeting and growing together and of learning these incredible new skills, create a new potential for healing across the island. 

The challenge for Tairseach, once established, was to create a place for all these new SEPs, in a country still divided by an artificial border and on the threshold of healing.

In the Autumn of 2015, the first ISE-organised SE training in Ireland completed its final module. Soon after, in early 2016, some newly certified SEPs started meeting at the invitation of ISE Director Bríd Keenan to discuss the possibility of forming an Association of Somatic Experiencing Practitioners in Ireland. These discussions first took place with Bríd and using the opportunity of post-training CPDs. As the momentum grew, participants started discussing a name and a constitution.

This work was intended to be voluntary and to reflect the entire island of Ireland. A lengthy and animated conversation about the name for the organisation led to the choice of an Irish name – suggested by Róisín Ní Chéileachair: Tairseach, or threshold. For a complete explanation of this apt and poetic name, see our website (https://www.tairseach.ie/about-us ).

The birth

A first AGM took place on 6 October 2017, at which a basic Constitution, drafted by Hilary McNamara and Joëlle Gartner, was adopted and the first Management Committee was unanimously elected, with Róisín as its chairperson and resident Gaeilgeoir. 

2017 Committee (listed here to acknowledge those pioneers):

This group started meeting regularly to set out a programme of work,  learn the ropes of how to conduct meetings, refine what each post holder’s role was, and how to develop an Association to meet the needs of a growing band of SEPs. Everyone contributed the skills they had acquired throughout life, be it technical, linguistic, organising. By October 2017 a second cohort had started its training, some of whom attended the first AGM.  

Tairseach invited Bríd to accept a co-opted position as EASE Liaison Officer, in order to make sense of its relationship to the European organisation. Obviously Bríd’s own thinking as founder of ISE, and her long experience in the field of Somatic ExperiencingÒ were extremely important for Tairseach to have access to, and a compass to fly by.

A logo was agreed, and designed by Róisín’s partner Alan based on our requirements. It has been the flag we fly under ever since!

First flight

The second AGM took place on 26 January 2019, in Belfast. It started a tradition of ‘AGM and Community Day’ events, which dealt with the business of the Association and also offered a space for professional development. After the business of the AGM participants heard an input by Bríd, ‘Speaking Out, Staying Silent’, about the particular nature of trauma in Ireland, and the showing of the documentary ‘In Utero’, about epigenetics and transgenerational trauma. This was also the last in-person such day until 2024. Little did we know that a pandemic would push us somatic practitioners into the virtual universe

Tairseach organised for its membership an in-person workshop in Dublin in September 2019. The topic, facilitated by Bríd, was the question of the politics of trauma (and trauma work) as experienced by each individual participant working in this field in Ireland today. 

A task which kept the Committee busy in 2019, especially its Publicity Officer, Chair and Treasurer, was the development of Tairseach’s online presence – and work started on the design and content of a website, and the search for an affordable web designer.

The pandemic years

The third AGM meant to happen in March 2020 had to be postponed due to the lockdown. It took place in November 2020 instead, this time online. Meanwhile, a small team was working on putting together the elements of a website for Tairseach, which had to serve three distinct audiences: the members of Tairseach, students and SEPs, the wider public wanting to know what the Somatic ExperiencingÒ approach is about, and finally the wider SE public that may be interested in how Irish SEPs self-organise and about their work.  The Community part of the November 2020 AGM and Community Day was led by two SEPs, Mairead Flynn (SEP, yoga trainer) and Bernardine McManus (SEP, drama therapist), using movement and voice to develop the theme of ‘Moving and Sounding Toward Regulation’.

The new Tairseach website was presented to the membership on that day. Among its features, an FAQ page which was carefully written both to explain simply what SE is to the public, and support new SEPs in explaining to the people they work with (or for) about this somatic approach to resolving trauma. Tairseach members now had a personal space where they could update their contact details and access important documents. The website caters to a number of audiences: the public curious about somatic approaches, people actually looking for an SE therapist, Tairseach members, SEPs in Ireland and further afield who may be interested in what Tairseach is doing,

A growing organisation

By 2025 the membership had grown from the early 20 members to a healthy 100 (plus one retired), thanks to the successive cohorts of SE students trained by Ireland SE. To date (2025), a sixth cohort is going through its training, and is completing its Beginner Year.

The Tairseach numbers also grew thanks to the efforts of our Membership Secretaries, Marych from 2017 to 2019, then Terry in an acting capacity until 2022, and Qiaoyi Li thereafter. Likewise when Terry stepped down from her position as Treasurer in 2022, Joëlle took over in an acting capacity until 2023 when Ian O’Dwyer took up the position. The post of  Secretary was held by Mairéad until she stepped down in 2022, replaced by Cordula who has served until this year. A co-opted post of CPD Officer was held by Marie McGinnity from 2018 until 2022, then by Mairéad Flynn for a year, and from 2023 onward by Deirdre McKibbin.

The Student Reps served during their 3 year courses, and made an important contribution to the running of the Association: from cohort 3, Aisling Kenny and Stephen Cooke, from cohort 4, Marie Sheridan and Stephen Brown, and from cohort 5, Bronagh McClean and Miika Daizan Kaski. 

Bríd initially sat on the Committee as EASE Liaison, but it was decided to separate this post from an ex-officio post of National Organiser, held by Bríd, as Ruth Dixon volunteered to represent Tairseach with EASE, and was co-opted as EASE Liaison Officer, a post she held until the Autumn of 2025.

In 2025 the running of the website was peeled off the Publicity post, and Miika volunteered to hold the co-opted post of web manager. 

Last but not least, the Committee was chaired by Róisín since its inception, until she stepped down between the 2023 and the 2024 AGM. In those 6 plus years Róisín created a warm and encouraging space for everyone to express their views, seeking consensus and paying attention to everyone.  This style was ideally suited to the settling and bedding down of the Committee, taking it through its first few changes of post holders. After her departure the chairing of meetings rotated between the three longest serving members of the Committee, its Publicity Officer Joelle, its Secretary Cordula and its Membership Secretary Qiaoyi. When the Secretary was in the chair, minutes were taken by one of the other two. This is just one example among many of how Committee members have stepped up and run the Association for the benefit of all, and in the process developed their organisational skills.

Further AGMs and Community Days including CPD events included:

AGM 2022: Constitutional amendment enshrining Human Rights as the foundation of our work.  The trauma of war, discussion around Palestine

AGM 2023: New Treasurer elected. Martin Schlozer ISE trained, from Switzerland)SEP led an experiential session on Feldenkrais.

AGM 2024: A 10th birthday party for ISE! Some Constitutional Amendments, an emergency motion on Gaza (for publication).  Ariel Giaretto led a successful workshop on Essential Strategies for Healing Sexual Trauma and Sexuality.

In 2025: A residential workshop led by Berns Galloway, ‘Coherence 360’, using touch work to support coherence, with a focus on the kidney-adrenal complex and the brain stem.

The Online Café Tradition

Inspired by initiatives that sprung up during the pandemic such as the Café Palestine organised by the Palestine Mental Health Network which Bríd had attended, Tairseach decided to organise its own Café, an informal, self-organising meeting point for its members where they could exchange ideas on any topic relevant to their SE practice, share experiences and resources, discuss their evolving SE skills…and the first of these took place on line on Tuesday 2 February 2021! This became a regular online event, one and a half hours on the evening of the first Tuesday on alternate months. The latest one, number 27, took place on 5 August 2025.

Some have seen one of our members present on a workshop they attended or how they apply SE to their work, other Cafés have invited people to breakout rooms to explore their special interests, such as SE work with children and young people, or SE with people with cancer, SE work with people on the autism spectrum, long Covid, refugees… Other approaches close to SE were presented, such as Aline LaPierre’s Neuro-Affective Touch, and Steve Terrell’s Transforming Touch. ISE Director Bríd Keenan has been an important influence and presenter in some of these Cafés, such as her presentation of her visit to Palestine in 2022, and a talk on the work required to integrate SE into one’s practice.

Since October 2023 Irish SEPs are living through a time of genocide, and through their Association have raised their voice to oppose and denounce what is being done to the people of Palestine. To many it was an obvious move, given our understanding of the trauma of colonisation. To others it was a brutal eye-opener and an opportunity to clarify for themselves where we stand as therapists when Human Rights are violated so blatantly.

Two important aspects of the Cafés are their regularity, and the time given for people to make connections: a real structure of support.