Meet Donal
'A catalyst for personal, relational and cultural transformation'
Currently based in South Portugal, and gradually settling down after 20 years of almost constant travel. I’ve been working locally and internationally, providing training, facilitation, consultancy, mediation and coaching to individuals, couples and groups of all shapes and sizes (families, teams, organisations, communities).
In these, I draw from an extensive ‘toolkit’ from various modalities to develop skills in conscious communication, effective collaboration, authentic relating, community/team building, shared leadership, as well as personal and relational healing.
I learnt many of these modalities on my travels, whilst living in various intentional communities and working with all sorts of organisations. For example: Nonviolent Communication, The Wheel of Consent, Forum, Sociocracy, Restorative Circles and Systems Building.
I noticed the groups that had implemented these were functioning better than those which hadn’t. So I began teaching them to those groups that were struggling without them.
A similar pattern emerged with individuals and couples. As I gained more expertise and skills in supportive practices (some listed below under ‘Eclectic Skillset’), I started offering coaching, mediation and consultation.
The requests for training and support continued...
At the same time, my own hunger to deepen my understanding of these tools and to learn new complementary skills magnified. At some points, I was spending months at back-to-back trainings and transformational events (offering, receiving or both). Along the way, gaining various titles (e.g. as a Certified Trainer with the Centre for Nonviolent Communication) and positions (e.g. as Creative Director of HeartSpace Collective).
And so, I became a bumblebee; cross-pollinating from one corner of the world to the other, working with thousands of individuals, relationships and groups.
In them all, I continuously discover similar struggles, patterns, longings and unconscious systems in operation.
And so, the remedy is almost always the same...
– to slow down, bring awareness to these harmful patterns of interaction, create enough space to breathe and notice what’s really going on – inside ourselves, in relation to each other, and in the systems within which we operate. And from there, we can make conscious choices about how to act in more connected and effective ways.
It is such a joy to witness the results; to revisit a client or a friend who I’ve coached, a participant from a training, or a group with whom I helped resolve a conflict and build new response systems… and to see the smiling faces, hear the stories of rekindled hope, regained trust, renewed enthusiasm for life… the depth of healing, the lasting transformation… people really thriving.
I know it’s possible, because I’m seeing it, I’m doing it, I’m sharing it.
I want to share it with you
– with everyone who wants to cultivate a more wonderful life for themselves and others.
I hope you will join me on this exciting path – at one of my public events or a private session.
In collaboration with
What people say about Donal
"Donal is the most dynamic & dedicated facilitator I have ever been with"
"Donal is one of the best teachers I know, really coming from the heart and bringing huge experience, and he lives what he teaches too”
"Donal is a wonderful facilitator, he puts you so at ease and has great lived and learned knowledge of the subjects. He makes it such a fun interactive learning experience and manages the energy and time really well"
"I take Donal as an example of somebody who is manifesting with his own life and path the change we all want to see in this world”
Eclectic Skillset Infusion
I am committed to exploring and sharing ways in which we can meet the needs that tend to be neglected due to cultural conditioning, socialisation and/or traumatic experiences.
This exploration has brought a vast diversity and richness to my life and to those with whom I have worked and played. Thus I have developed an extensive skillset of various practices which infuse into what I offer.
These practices are grouped along with some of the often neglected needs they can meet.
Play, Spontaneity, Fun, Laughter, Movement, Freedom,
with Contact Improvisation, Cooperative games, Ecstatic Dance, Circus skills, Theatre Improv, Laughter Yoga & Community music (drumming, singing)
Intimacy, Touch, Affection
with The Wheel of Consent, Massage, Kaleidoscope Community Yoga, Tantra, Primal Play, Synergy & Conscious connection activities
Empathy, Deep Connection, Emotional Expression, Healing and Transformation
with Nonviolent Communication, Authentic Relating, Attachment Theory, Re-evaluation Counselling, Circling, The Work of Byron Katie, Focussing, Internal Family Systems, Shadow and Process work, Forum & Family Constellations
