The committee have had a busy few months organising events for our members. We are still glowing from the warmth of our recent in person gathering in Portarlington and we are already planning the Autumn Gathering which will be on Saturday 19th September where we return to the Dominian Retreat Centre in Dublin.

2026 got off to a great start for the network with Mary Jennings's engaging & optimistic two-part workshop Bringing Focusing into the Everyday.

Our refresher evenings continue to be a great success and many thanks to our fabulous facilitators who present new topics each month. Please get in touch if you would like to suggest a topic related to Focusing in partnership for next year. And we would love some more Focusing teachers to facilitate Refresher evenings, do reach out if you would be willing to get involved.

Our first zoom session of each month now takes place in the morning. Let us know please whether you value this initiative and would like to see it continue. The zoom sessions wouldn't happen without our team of hosts -we are very grateful for their commitment. If you would be willing to join the host team in September, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Finally, a reminder that there will be no zoom sessions during July and August. A big thank you to everyone on the committee and to each member of our precious network. We wish you a lovely summer filled with whatever brings you joy.

Our AGM which took place on January 27th was a space for our community to come together & pause, to reflect on the past year for our network & to consider where we are now, what’s important and how would we like our community to move forward.

Since 2021 we have established different ways of coming together. The weekly zooms create a space for us to pause & through connecting outward, connect inward. Our gratitude to the commitment of our team of zoom hosts who create an online space week after week. And thanks also to our community of Focusers who hold that space for each other.

Our refresher evenings are into their second year. Our aim in starting them was to deepen our Focusing in community, to explore & learn from each other. We are blessed to be able to call on wonderful teachers within our network. We’ve also invited Focusing teachers from beyond our network to bring something new. In 2025 we were delighted to have Peter Gill on line & Rene Veuglers for the Children & Focusing day.

The bimonthly poetry evenings offered by Marie McGuigan, Elaine Goggin and Eibhlin nic Eochaidh continue to bring richness. If you can’t make these evenings, I encourage you to explore the Poetry corner on the website.

Though online has been a lifeline for our Focusing community, the in person gatherings have allowed us to sit beside each other, to be together & to Focus in real life. For the last couple of years we’ve had one gathering in Dublin and another down the country. These events are made possible through the generosity of those who volunteer to offer workshops on the day.

I would like to also acknowledge the wonderful newsletters that appear in our inboxes four times a year thanks to Elaine and her team.  

In 2025 the committee drew up guidelines to support the members attending our weekly zooms. Support and advice in relation to these sessions is available through a dedicated email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . We also drew up guidelines to support our zoom hosts. 

During the AGM members took time in break out rooms to explore what they valued about the network. You'll find an image below of the words and phrases that came up during this discussion. Members were also invited to consider how they might contribute to the network. 

Thanks to our committee members Elaine, Kay, Peter and Marta for their hard work. I’d like to especially acknowledge Marta’s contribution to the network as she steps away from the committee.  The rest of the committee is willing to stay on for 2026 and we are happy to welcome Anne Harte Barry on board.  

To finish 2026 is a big year for Focusing. It’s the centenary of Gene Gendlin’s birth. To celebrate, The International Focusing Conference will be held in Gene’s birthplace Vienna, from 3^rd to 7^th June. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to attend and we look forward to sharing our insights & learnings with you.  

Thanks to every one of our members for being a part of our network and we look forward to a special year of Focusing together.