
Natasha Bailey. | Photo courtesy of Hawthorn Counselling Services
“There are some who struggle with a sense of belonging, […] where they’re experiencing loneliness or isolation,” she adds.
The seeds of healing
Canadian-born Bailey lived in Ireland for 15 years, working with disadvantaged communities where she focused on mental health promotion and personal development. Due to her research and strategy-based work in Ireland’s non-profit sector, she joined the immigration sector upon returning to Canada in 2011.
“I noticed over the last decade the kind of exponential growth of the Irish community [in Vancouver],” she says. “During my internship, I worked with quite a few Irish folks and so it became clear to me that what I wanted to do […] was to be involved in mental health promotion in the Irish community here.”
Bailey’s strength-based counselling approach helps clients identify and leverage their strengths – not just in moments of crisis, but also in their day-to-day life. It also emphasizes clients’ existing resources and support systems while allowing Bailey to recommend additional community resources.
“I’m always very honored and privileged to work with folks and see the ways in which they find the seeds of growth and healing inside them,” she says.
Bailey points out that, like many other newcomers, a major challenge Irish immigrants face is adjusting to the new environment. She details their challenges through a cultural adjustment model: honeymoon, crisis, recovery and adjustment. While the honeymoon, recovery and adjustment phases include immigrants understanding their living situation and coping with the new environment, the crisis phase is the period where feelings of doubt start to manifest.
“This is where the reality of this all sets in,” she explains. “There’s a sense of ‘Oh, maybe it’s not as rosy as it started off.’”
Overcoming challenges
Immigrants may also have difficulty balancing their new lives in Canada with their connections to Ireland. Part of Bailey’s role is helping clients identify how these mixed feelings can be addressed. Due to the cultural aspect of her work, she recognizes how some Irish immigrants may prefer speaking with professionals who are either Irish-born or who have lived in Ireland.
“Somebody who understands terms of phrase and colloquialisms, somebody who understands the cultural metaphors,” she explains, noting how Irish colloquialism involves plenty of wordplay.
Besides assimilating into a new environment, other challenges include navigating intercultural relationships with others, including romantic partners or children. Bailey also draws attention to the importance of cultural awareness surrounding counselling services or community resources supporting mental health. As Ireland’s national mental health program is relatively new, with the Health Service Executive Mental Health Promotion Plan only published in 2022, Bailey notes that there may be more stigma accessing mental health care in Ireland than in Canada.
“I think one of the important differences that [can be] positive is that folks come [to Canada] and they notice that people talk about their feelings more here,” she says, while cautioning against generalizations.
She hopes that Hawthorn Counselling Services will be seen as a resource for mental health – one that helps people see the best in themselves.
“To me, counselling is about people coming home to themselves,” she says. “People coming into their internal landscapes and learning to view themselves with compassionate curiosity and non-judgment.”
For more information, see: www.hawthorncounselling.ca