Celia Keenaghan, PhD
Facilitator | Sociologist | Mentor
“Now is the time to step into your authentic power and lead. Lead your self, your family, your team, your community, along an energizing and inspiring path to create positive waves of social change.”
I have curated a life that enables me to follow my purpose – connecting and supporting people from all walks of life who are committed to social change.
My passions include sea swimming (and screaming!), playing traditional music, dancing and writing poetry, all done with a sense of fun, with spirit and inspired by a commitment to a more just and fair society.
“it is possible to use our influence and power to create islands of sanity in the midst of a raging destructive sea”
Meg Wheatley, Author and Leadership Consultant
Creating and Learning
I hold a PhD in Sociology from the Queen’s University Belfast and a Masters in Communications Studies from Dublin City University.
I have trained as a mentor with Entrepreneurs Institute becoming Ireland’s first consultant certified in Wealth Dynamics and Talent Dynamics business development pathways for building trust and flow.
I am passionate about bringing knowledge, skill and compassion to complex situations. I am a committed lifelong learner in sociology, community development, writing, music, spiritual, health and wellbeing practices.
I engage regularly in lecturing in areas including health promotion and social justice, training in areas such as personal development for entrepreneurs and mentoring of learners at all ages and stages.
I have worked across many sectors including business, public health, community development, education and social innovation. I have led many multi-stakeholder initiatives and have been a driver of key national initiatives including the pioneering youth charity SpunOut.ie. I work part-time with the Institute of Technology, Sligo as a community-based education mentor.
Creative collaborations include Yeats 150 Harp Festival of Moons; a series of 13 harp events across Ireland inspired by the poetry of WB Yeats. These recitals were hosted in Yeats-connected locations on each full moon during 2015. As well as being one of the organising team, I had the privilege of playing on the last full moon at Yeats’ graveside in Drumcliffe on Christmas Day, broadcast on RTE news on New Years Eve.
My Approach
I love to share my knowledge, experience and connections in practical and supportive ways. I use a number of techniques to support clients to develop personal awareness. This allows identification of blind spots in thinking and the release of unhelpful automatic responses. It also replaces fear-based responses with a healthy combination of evidence and intuitive based decisions.
I draw on frameworks including theory of change, restorative practice, wealth dynamics and resilience-building, that enable clients to bring a new structure to conversations and a transformative approach to tasks enhancing communication and relationships in individual and collaborative endeavors.
I believe that getting to the heart of the matter is as important as steps, strategies and processes. For many years I saw my interests in life, for example: sociology, yoga, entrepreneurship, music, as separate pursuits. Now I see my interest in diverse areas as part of the ‘secret sauce’ of my life satisfaction and my personal impact in the world.
Take a look around my site and see if you would like me to support you to maximise your impact for real and lasting social change.