Jen was born in North County Mayo in 1981. She describes her rural childhood as idyllic, growing up on a farm as the youngest of eight children. Her family was Protestant and regular churchgoers and the church provided their social network outside the family. Jen describes the impact on herself and her mother of her father dying suddenly when she was thirteen. She relates her interest in counselling and psychology to this and her belief that talking is good for mental health. She describes herself as a cautious, quite naïve teenager who was shocked when a friend became pregnant. She talks about pop music including the boy bands of the time. On finishing school, Jen moved to Dublin to begin nurse training and shares her excitement about living in the city and meeting people from different backgrounds. Jen describes the amazing, and occasionally overwhelming, experience of her placement with a Children’s charity in Russia during a break from nursing in Ireland. She talks about her relationship with her now husband.