Counselling Dublin

Ray Bourke

Counsellor & Psychotherapist

When life feels heavy or overwhelming, you don’t have to face it alone.

Therapy

🌿 How I Work
A calm, steady, and reflective space to understand what’s really going on beneath the surface.Therapy with me isn’t about being given tools, tips, or quick fixes. It’s about understanding the deeper emotional patterns that shape how you think, feel, relate, and respond to life.People come to therapy because something inside them hurts, even if they can’t yet put that hurt into words.My role is to help us find the words together, understand what’s driving the struggle, and work toward meaningful, lasting change.🌱 My Integrative ApproachI don’t impose a single “brand” of therapy. Instead, I draw from a range of evidence-based approaches and adapt them to the person sitting in front of me.My work is informed by:Person-Centred Therapy
CBT / REBT
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
IFS-informed “parts” work
Somatic and trauma-informed perspectives
Attachment and relational insight
Unconscious ProcessesThese aren’t used as techniques to “fix” you. They help us understand the emotional forces shaping your patterns, which form your personality and how they can be rewoven.🔍 What to Expect in the First Few SessionsMeaningful therapy begins by developing a shared understanding of what has brought you here.
Together, we explore three essential questions:1. What’s wrong?Not just symptoms — but the emotional patterns, pressures, or wounds beneath them.2. How do you hope therapy can help?This helps us imagine what change might look like and what direction feels right.3. Why now?Something has tipped the scale or made the pain clearer. Understanding this helps us find early relief and clarity.You don’t need to arrive with answers.
If you don’t have words yet, we start there, by finding the language together.I Work With Adults Navigating:Anxiety, overwhelm, or emotional floodingChildhood trauma or emotional neglectGrief and lossDepression or low moodAnger and reactivityAddiction recoveryPeople-pleasing, self-criticism, or chronic self-doubtFeeling disconnected, empty, or stuckRelationship or attachment woundsLife transitions and identity strugglesJust arrive as you are.

About

I’m Ray Bourke, a Dublin-based counsellor and psychotherapist. I believe that meaningful psychotherapy is not about techniques, tools, or forcing people to "think positively." Instead, it focuses on understanding the emotional patterns and experiences that shape who we are, often outside of our awareness, and working together to create new possibilities.Throughout the years, both in my personal life and professional practice, I have learned that the causes of suffering are intertwined with the fabric of our lives: how we relate to ourself, others and the world, how we protect ourselves, how we experience fear, how we connect, how we have been hurt, and what we have learned to hide or silence within ourselves.For me, therapy is the process of gently yet courageously exploring this fabric and discovering how it can be rewoven.