Face To Face Support Meetings

Venue Location

Kerry

Venue: Meadowlands Hotel, Oakpark, Tralee, Co Kerry

Times of meetings:  7.20 PM – 9.00PM

If you are a parent attending one of our meetings for the first time, please arrive at 7.15

 Dates of Meetings:

 2nd Tuesday of each month

 Calendar of specific dates each month for the year

Month2nd Tuesday
JanuaryJanuary 14, 2025
FebruaryFebruary 11, 2025
MarchMarch 11, 2025
AprilApril 8, 2025
MayMay 13, 2025
JuneJune 10, 2025
JulyPAUSE FOR SUMMER
AugustPAUSE FOR SUMMER
SeptemberSeptember 9, 2025
OctoberOctober 14, 2025
NovemberNovember 11, 2025
DecemberDecember 9, 2025

What to Expect at an Anam Cara Face-to-Face Support Meeting


At Anam Cara, our peer-to-peer support groups are at the core of what we do. At these meetings, you can meet other bereaved parents. At these meetings, you have the opportunity to share, ask questions, connect, or just listen. Groups are led by a bereavement or mental health professional and a volunteer parent—someone who knows the experience of losing a child. The groups meet for around an hour and a half, though if it is your first time coming to a meeting, we recommend arriving fifteen to twenty minutes early, so you can meet the facilitators, and they can learn about you and your child. The evening will centre around an open discussion where parents can share experiences or simply listen in a compassionate and non-judgmental environment. Tea and light refreshments are provided. 

Most of our groups gather in quiet and confidential meeting rooms at hotels across the island. It is the policy of Anam Cara to keep confidential all personal information about parents, siblings, and families in our service. We provide a safe space for all bereaved parents, regardless of gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, religion, or membership in the Traveller community, to share our loss and the complex emotions that surround grief. 

Professional facilitator, Cora O’Brien

Cora is a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, and is a fully accredited member of the IACP.
Qualifications included a Bosc (Hons) Degree in Psychotherapy & Counselling. GATLA trained couple counsellor, and Diploma in Integrative Adolescent Psychotherapy.
She  has a passion for her work, and runs a private practice in Listowel Co. Kerry.
Her work has been instrumental in improving  the Mental Health Services in Kerry.
As well as drawing from her professional qualifications Cora has first hand experienced on the loss of a child.  She draws from her experience and works with a wide variety of issues and her ethos is to provide an atmosphere of support, empathy, and trust that allows feelings to be shared without judgement.