Founder/Director TPI

Mary Paula Walsh, co-founder of Turning Point and Turning Point™ Institute, passed away on 17th April, 2017.

Mary Paula was a creative visionary with a passionate and pioneering spirit. From the late 1970’s onwards, Mary Paula worked tirelessly to change attitudes towards illness, death and bereavement, in Ireland. She trained as a facilitator with the Elisabeth Kübler Ross Foundation in the USA, and become a core member of the Kübler Ross training team facilitating workshops in Ireland and the UK. In the 1980’s she became a leader in Re-evaluation Co-Counselling and, in collaboration with others, founded the Bereavement Counselling Service in Dublin. In 1986, Mary Paula, with fellow visionary Kay Conroy, established Turning Point™, a centre that offered psychological support services to those experiencing bereavement, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. It was one of the first organisations in Ireland to offer humanistic and integrative counselling and psychotherapy services.

Mary Paula became well known and respected for her expertise on grief, loss and bereavement within the professions of psychotherapy and counselling.  In 1992, she wrote an article entitled ‘Some Thoughts on the Art of Living and Dying – by a Psychotherapist,’ for the IAHIP publication ‘Inside Out’. In 1995, her first book ‘Living After a Death – A Guide through the Journey of Bereavement’ was published, followed by a second, ‘Helping Your Child Through Bereavement’, in 2001.

In 2001, Mary Paula Walsh, with partner Kay Conroy, founded Turning Point™ Institute, a professional training centre dedicated to advancing and developing integrative psychotherapy studies in Ireland, encompassing educational training, clinical practice, research and supervision. With a very broad and deep philosophical perspective on life and death, Mary Paula was an inspirational psychotherapist and teacher. She devoted her life to sharing her wisdom and learnings with students, colleagues and community groups. In March 2017, the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy made Mary Paula an Honorary Member in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the fields of counselling and psychotherapy services and to the training and education of therapists.

Mary Paula is deeply missed by all at Turning Point™ Institute.