ROC Repay-In-Kind spreading nationwide from midlands
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Willy O’Connor, Deirdre O’Connor, Ciara O’Connor, James O’Connor and Grace O’Connor at the ROC Repay-In-Kind launch in the Annebrook House Hotel last week.Image 2 of 5
Anne O’Reilly, Adrienne Murray and Sandra Kennedy at the Annebrook House Hotel for the launch event.Image 3 of 5
Pauline Sheils from Raharney and Lesley Coyne from Killucan.Image 4 of 5
Jackie Farrell and Elaine Brennan.Image 5 of 5
Liga Runkauska from Kinnegad and Sharon Dardis from Coralstown.Kindness was the order of the day at the Annebrook Hotel last week as Shamanic practitioner Ciara O’Connor launched her ROC Repay-In-Kind initiative.
The initiative, set up in memory of her brother, Ryan, who passed away in December 2023, is about wellness and includes facilitators working in areas including yoga, meditation, sound healers, counsellors and other wellness practitioners.
“What we do is we keep a free spot within our services for someone who might need it, but may not be in a position to pay for it,” Ciara told the Westmeath Examiner.
“So income is completely confidential and nobody else knows that they’re there in that way.
“And all we ask in return, instead of paying with money, is that they do something nice for somebody else. And it ripples out then.”
Friday night, March 7, was the official launch of the initiative, which now has almost 50 facilitators across the country.
“The idea is to get it nationwide, but Friday was about acknowledging the facilitators and presenting them with a cert that they can frame and put in their premises,” said Ciara.
Around 18 facilitators were in attendance on the night to help publicise the initiative, and each practitioner received brochures for their premises to help spread the word about the service.
Ciara is a Shamanic practitioner, and said the whole initiative started from there.
“I don’t have a huge business, I’m very small, very humble. But after Ryan passed, I realised how so many people are struggling and not everyone has the money to attend these things that we know might help us,” she said.
“Sometimes that’s all you need. Grief happens to us all at some point in life and sometimes all you need is an hour distraction.
“Or if you have babies at home, sometimes you just need an hour away just to reset and there are so many people that could do with that.
“It’s something that I started with my own practice and I didn’t really think much of it to be honest, but somebody came back to me months later and told me how much of a difference it made for them at the time, and I was taken aback by how much of an impact it had on her because it wasn’t really much for me to do, but it made a big impact for them.
“It was something I wanted to do to honour my brother and to honour his struggles. I’m excited to see where it can go.”
More information on the initiative can be found by following ROC Repay-In-Kind on Facebook and Instagram.