Leona Cronin
FOUNDER
Hi! My name is Leona.
As a young child and teenager, I was a dreamer! I had a dream! A dream where one day I would have my own place, working with art, nature, animals, trees, creatures, making stuff, dancing around the fire, singing songs and telling stories – gorgeous, right!
Fast forward! Like all good folks, some of this dream died for a very long time in my life and I went off on a different direction for many years until such time as I reached a place where I studied to become a psychotherapist.
I spent many years of my professional life working in addiction and mental health. As a trained psychotherapist, I spent a long time working in large and often high-profile organisations in Ireland and overseas, ending up running my own healthcare company in the UK for many years.
Everything came to a head over 10 years ago when I was forced to stop and look at the way I was working and living my life. And so the journey back, to that little girl, in the wilds of Connemara, Cork and Kerry started all over again!
I made the decision that we have only one wild and precious life and our purpose is to be happy and whole, our purpose in our work is to give something back to the world. And my journey to address all of this started.
I made the decision to return to learning and retrained. I attended an eco therapy conference in 2019 where I met Cal. I studied Eco Arts with MTU in Cork where I met Kay. I studied to become a Forest School Leader where I met Carol. I met Stephanie in a previous job where we both worked for a Homelessness Charity in Dublin – sharing our hopes and dreams and desires about building a better life and world around us. And we all became friends, first!
Along the way, we all spent time together at different stages and then it became obvious to me – I said to myself, I want to build something for the future but do not want to travel this journey alone. And so, our conversations started about coming together.
And here we are!
Dr. Caroline (Cal) Burrow
Sea Stone Sky was founded by Dr Caroline Burrow, PhD, ClinPsyD, CPsychol. who is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist.
Dr Burrow has over 25 years’ experience of working in the NHS, charity and independent sectors providing consultation, therapeutic intervention, clinical supervision, strategic input into service development, staff support and training.
Dr Burrow gained her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Birmingham University, UK. and also has a PhD in Neurophysiology, from Aston University, UK.
She is a facilitator of Compassionate Mind Training (Balanced Minds) providing training to individuals, groups and organisations.
Dr Burrow also has a specialist interest in ecotherapy and nature-based practices. She has trained in the Eponaquest® approach of Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy and Learning and is registered as a Eponaquest® practitioner offering equine facilitated psychotherapy, personal development, and team building.
Kay O Donoghue
Kay O Donoghue mixed-media artist with a keen interest in recycling materials and eco-art practices. She is qualified in Ceramic Design and loves the tactile nature of clay, using it in much of her work. She has an MA in Arts and Engagement from MTU Cork, and enjoys the dynamics and energy that group work brings. Included in her Masters program was an Eco Arts Practice elective and an Arts and Wellbeing elective.
Currently, Kay is the lead community outreach artist with Nenagh Arts Centre and works closely with various social groups in the community. She has also worked with organisations such as Brothers of Charity, Avista, Nenagh College, Silver Arch, and various Women’s Sheds
She also has experience working as an assistant in several summer/winter Forest School camps.
As well as this, Kay is a Mosaics tutor with FET College Mulgrave Street,Limerick.
Her hobbies include eco-art practices, nature walking, puppet making, photography, creative writing, spoken word, ceramics and clay work, sustainable mixed media art, mindful practices, meditation, and music. She has a strong musical background and has been the lead vocalist in a jazz/ska band. She also works seasonally as a children’s entertainer, and a seasonal window painter.
Kay believes in using creative processes as a means to engage with communities and the power of art practices to foster connections and help to affect positive change within those communities. Music, art, crafts and other forms of creative expression can be the foundations for rich discourse between those that engage together. The process of creating becomes the conduit through which people find identity with each other, develop empathy and from these group encounters, affirmative changes can happen for the individual and the wider community.
Carol Barrett
Carol is passionate about nature and the environment.
Carol started off her career as a horticulturist and a gardener but quickly learned that she preferred the wildness of the natural world and has been studying wild plants and foraging since she was a child.
Carol is a weaver and a crafter, a collector of natural material and an eco-artist.
Irish mythology and folklore are Carol’s greatest passions, and she loves to bring these stories into all her work and creative endeavours.
Carol is an experienced facilitator, singer, storyteller, forest bathing practitioner, and a forest school leader and runs course through her own business based in Galway, Down to Earth Forest School.
Stephanie Gratzenberger
Stephanie is a fully qualified social worker and secondary school teacher with a passion for education on all levels (design, promotion, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of training / education). She has years of experience in delivering formal as well as informal training and education in a variety of settings and via a multitude of channels.
She is also an avid gardener and enjoys spending time outside planting and harvesting her own, homegrown fruits, vegetables and herbs using them to create a multitude of tasty, healthy and nutritious meals for her family. Cooking and baking are Stephanie’s love language and she’s keen to pass on these life skills in the most fun way possible.
As a mother to a teenage son, Stephanie is well aware of the challenges young adults face in today’s society and is fully committed to enhancing every young person’s experience here at Gaeltra through play, fun, laughter, caring and understanding – bridging the “old” with the new and bringing back “forgotten” skills to our young, growing generation.