IT'S often difficult for those who have taken time out to be with a growing family to decide how best to reintegrate themselves into the paid workforce or education system. Priorities change as does one's view of the world, and a job or field of study which had once been of interest may no longer hold the same appeal.
For many the process of maturation will have brought both painful and enriching experiences which people often feel they would like to put to good use in the service of others. A pay packet may be important, but so, too, is personal satisfaction and this seems to be one of the main reasons why so many mature students are turning to courses and jobs with a people centred focus such as counselling and psychotherapy.
The continuing education department at Maynooth has been running a part time, two year counselling course for the past 12 years and it's "standing room only" at the various centres throughout the country where it takes place. There are over 1,000 enrolled between the two years and most of the students are aged over 25.
"We find that mature students make ideal candidates for this course because they have very good life experience and can contribute to discussions in a very valuable way," says course co ordinator Mary Ryan. "People do our course for a variety of reasons from wanting to increase their self awareness to using it as a stepping stone to a career or to broaden their knowledge if they are already working in an environment where counselling skills are needed.
"This is not a professional training course and many people go on afterwards either to a degree in psychology or formal training in counselling. But it does give people a flavour of what is involved and it suits older people because they have first hand experience of problems and issues in a way younger students do not.
Ryan's views are shared by Malachy Kinnerley, director of ACCEPT, the association for community counselling, which offers a range of courses in counselling and therapy skills including some on a distance learning basis. "We find that life experience naturally draws older people towards person focused skills such as counselling and psychotherapy because they are interested in learning more about human beings and often have a lot to give as well," he says.
"These skills are very different to what one would learn on a BA psychology programme which has a very academic and analytical focus. We often find that older students are very disillusioned when they discover this. Life experience is invaluable for those interested in counselling or psychotherapy because students need to be able to relate at first hand to the problems and issues which will come up during the course of their studies."
IN 1991 Cathriona Brownlee embarked on a BA in psychoanalytic studies at the LSB college in Dublin. Prior to this she had spent 20 years in the home looking after her husband, Clive, and their six daughters. Before deciding on the BA in psychoanalytic studies she had spent a year on two part time courses, one in counselling and the other in psychoanalytic studies, while she decided which type of course she would like to pursue.
"There are a number of different approaches to helping people works through difficult issues in their lives and I felt I needed to sort them out in my mind before committing myself to any approach," she says. "Having decided that I wanted to go the psychoanalytic route I then opted for a full time day course because this fitted in with my free time when the children were at school and college.
"This certainly worked out well although there was just myself and one other mature student in the class the rest were straight from school. I found going back to study difficult not least because I had to learn how to use computers which was daunting, but I saw it as another developmental step in my life and a new experience to get to grips with. Certainly I had to work hard, but I had fantastic encouragement from my husband and my family which was very important," she says.
Both Cathriona and Clive Brownlee have been actively involved in a voluntary capacity with teenagers and parenting groups for a number of years and Cathriona saw her return to study as an opportunity to put her experience and interest in people on a more formal footing.
"I felt I wanted to learn about human development from a sound theoretical perspective," she says. "I'm not sure where I will eventually end up, but I've just begun a two year clinical Master's programme in psychoanalysis which involves a lot of practical work. I'll have a better idea of where I would like to focus by the time I finish this."
