Reflections from the Waiting Room at Summit Counselling and Psychotherapy Swords
When clients arrive for counselling in Swords at Summit Counselling and Psychotherapy, they often pause in the waiting room and look at the wall.
Not just one painting but many.
Bright, expressive pieces filled with colour and movement.
Sometimes someone asks, “Are they all by the same artist?”
They are. Every painting was created by Dora. She is 88 years old. And she only started painting recently.
Dora loved art as a child, growing up just after the Second World War. Money was tight, and art supplies were a luxury. She painted on scraps of cardboard, bits of wood, even the back of doors, anything she could find.
At school, teachers noticed her natural eye for colour. For a moment, it seemed like creativity might shape her future. She was even offered a job with a paint company.
But life required something steadier.
Her family needed income and security. So she chose practical work and became a machinist, putting her artistic side aside for decades. Like many people, she focused on responsibility, work, and caring for others.
Her creativity quietly waited in the background.
During the pandemic, her children gave her a simple gift: brushes and paints.
Nothing fancy. Just possibility.
So, she began.
She watched tutorials online. She practised, experimented, and taught herself. Slowly, her confidence grew.
Now, at 88, she paints regularly.
She says painting keeps her mind active and her body moving. It helps her feel capable, creative, and proud. While others talk about slowing down, she talks about what she wants to try next. She feels alive.
I often think about Dora when someone sits down for counselling or psychotherapy and tells me they feel it is too late for them.
Her paintings now fill an entire wall in our counselling space in Swords.
They are not just decoration. They are a quiet reminder of something we see every day in counselling and psychotherapy.
Many people come to counselling feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or behind in life.
“I missed my chance.”
“It is too late to change.”
“This is just who I am now.”
But personal growth and healing do not have an age limit.
Psychotherapy is not always about becoming someone new. Often, it is about reconnecting with parts of yourself that got set aside, the creative part, the hopeful part, the confident part.
Those parts do not disappear.
They wait.
Dora did not reinvent herself. She simply returned to who she had always been.
And now her artwork welcomes everyone who walks through our door, a gentle message for anyone seeking mental health support, relationship counselling, or help with life transitions:
It is not too late.
Not for growth.
Not for healing.
Not for becoming who you were meant to be.
At Summit Counselling and Psychotherapy Swords, helping you to find your way, counselling offers space to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with yourself.
If there is a part of you that feels forgotten or postponed, counselling can help you find your way back.
Sometimes all it takes is permission and the courage to begin.
Ready to start? Book a counselling session here:
Prefer a quick overview first? Watch this 60-second introduction to counselling: