Welcome to my website Bright Sparks Coaching  

My name is Clodagh McCarthy. I am a mindfulness teacher, coach and parent to two beautiful children based in Cork.

My own journey with mindfulness started many years ago as a participant of an MBSR Course which inspired me to explore further and train to teach MBSR as well as other mindfulness based courses for children and teenagers and more recently for expectant and new parents.

Over the past 14 years, I have been offering the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme ( MBSR) in Cork and Dublin for Individuals, Teachers, Healthcare professionals and many others.

I founded Bright Sparks Coaching passionate about bringing Mindfulness into the lives of children and young people. I learned early on that to do this, I needed to work with the adults in their lives, their teachers, schools and parents. With a colleague, we developed one of the first Mindfulness in Education Summer Courses for Primary School Teachers here in Ireland back in 2010 and offered this for many years through Drumcondra Education Centre in Dublin and the West Cork Education Centre.  I also worked directly with many schools across the country offering mindfulness sessions & courses for staff and students as well as universities staff and students including UL, UCC, LIT, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.

Since becoming a parent myself in 2018 after a long journey with IVF and unexpected complications at the end of my first pregnancy, I know from my own lived experience the benefits of mindfulness during pregnancy and in preparation for birthing and living daily life with young children, the importance and value as a parent of being able to pause, breathe and recalibrate yourself daily and the effects that this has on your children and in your home. 

Inspired to share this with other parents, over the past number of years, I have been retraining to teach the Mindfulness Based Childbirth & Parenting (MBCP) Programme developed by Nancy Baracke, Author of Mindful Birthing ( Mindful Birthing logo)

In addition to my work with Bright Sparks, I am a trainer for the National Parents Council (NPC) offering their training programmes and workshops for parents in schools and online  ( NPC New Logo)

Mindfulness has been an invaluable gift in my own life supporting me to navigate the challenges of living in this busy work with a little more ease, balance, kindness and compassion for myself and others.

It gives me space to reflect on my own journey, the tools to get clarity on challenges I may be facing and helps me bring a greater sense of joy, energy, playfulness and curiosity into my life as a parent.

I invite you to start your own Mindful Journey today and I look forward to journeying with you.