04/09/2026
🎒 BACK TO SCHOOL… BUT THIS TIME, WE GO BACK TO OURSELVES
September has a way of bringing us back to school.
The uniforms.
The classrooms.
The friendships.
The feeling of having to fit in.
And sometimes, without even realising it, going back to school can bring us back to who we were when we were there.
The child who desperately wanted to be accepted.
The teenager who was trying to work out who they were.
The part of us that learned to change ourselves so we could belong.
The part that became quiet because being ourselves didn't always feel safe.
The part that sought validation from friends and classmates because we hadn't yet learned how to give that validation to ourselves.
And perhaps there was an angry teenager inside us too.
Angry about what happened.
Angry about what didn't happen.
Angry about not being heard.
Angry about having to grow up too quickly.
Maybe we learned to hide that anger.
Maybe we learned to hide our sexuality.
Maybe we became afraid of being vulnerable because vulnerability once felt like weakness, rejection or danger.
And then we grew up.
But those younger versions of ourselves didn't necessarily disappear.
They can still live within the way we relate to people today.
Our attachment style can influence how we love, how we trust, how we communicate and how we respond when we feel rejected, abandoned, criticised or overwhelmed.
The child who feared rejection can become the adult who constantly seeks reassurance.
The child who learned not to need anyone can become the adult who struggles to let someone truly close.
The teenager who learned to hide can become the adult who struggles to be completely seen.
And the person who learned to protect themselves can sometimes find themselves protecting themselves from the very intimacy, connection and love they actually long for.
🌱 THIS IS WHERE THE WORK BEGINS.
Psychotherapy isn't about blaming our parents, our childhood or our past.
It's about understanding ourselves.
Understanding the child we were.
Understanding the teenager we became.
Understanding the adult we are today.
And beginning to bring those different parts of ourselves back into relationship with one another.
This is what I mean by reparenting ourselves.
Learning to give our inner child the safety, compassion and acceptance they may have needed.
Learning to sit with our angry adolescent rather than being frightened of our anger.
Learning to accept the parts of ourselves we learned to hide.
Learning to become comfortable with vulnerability.
Learning to understand our attachment patterns rather than allowing them to unconsciously control our relationships.
And perhaps most importantly…
Learning that we don't have to keep abandoning ourselves in order to be accepted by others.
As a Holistic Psychotherapist, my work is about looking at the whole person — our mind, body, emotions, relationships, experiences and the patterns that have developed throughout our lives.
Because healing isn't simply about understanding what happened to us.
It's about discovering who we can become when we no longer have to live from the wounds of who we once had to be.
You don't have to leave your inner child behind.
You don't have to reject your angry teenager.
You don't have to keep hiding parts of yourself.
And you don't have to remain trapped in the same patterns of relationship, fear and self-protection.
We can begin to bring those parts of you home.
The child.
The teenager.
The adult.
And when those parts begin to feel heard, accepted and understood, something changes.
You begin to know yourself differently.
You begin to relate differently.
You begin to love differently.
You become more grounded, more authentic, more connected and more accepting of who you are.
Maybe this September isn't about going back to school.
Maybe it's about going back to you.
🌱 If you're ready to begin that journey, psychotherapy can provide a safe space to explore it.
Damian McManamon
Holistic Psychotherapist
📞 086 858 2200
📧 [email protected]
Sometimes the person we most need to reconnect with is ourselves.
