Meaningful change starts with understanding yourself.
Open Ground was created by Sheelagh O’Neill as a space to step back from the noise, understand what may be keeping you stuck, and create change that feels meaningful and sustainable.
Through coaching, programmes and retreats, the work explores not only what you want to change, but what may be happening underneath.
A grounded, personal way of working.
Sometimes we know something needs to change, but knowing what to do isn’t always enough to make us do it.
We repeat patterns. Put ourselves last. Stay in situations that no longer feel right. Ignore what our body is telling us. Or simply become so busy managing life that we lose sight of ourselves within it.
My work creates a calm, thoughtful space to pause and become curious about what is really going on, without judgement and without the assumption that you need fixing.
From there, change becomes much more possible.
Experience, training and perspective.
I am an EMCC-accredited coach and am currently completing a Master’s in Personal & Management Coaching at University College Cork, bringing further depth and an evidence-informed perspective to my work.
Alongside my professional coaching and business experience, I have spent more than a decade working with approaches including Heal Your Life®, Buteyko Breathing, emotional wellbeing and yoga therapy.
These different strands have shaped an integrative way of working that considers the whole person: our thinking and beliefs, our circumstances and relationships, the patterns we repeat, and the ways stress and experience can show up in the body.
Open Ground grew from all of these influences.
Understanding the pattern, not judging the person.
Much of what we struggle with makes more sense when we understand what sits underneath it.
- Why do we keep choosing relationships that aren’t right for us?
- Why do we say yes when we want to say no?
- Why do we repeatedly put ourselves at the bottom of the list?
- Why can we know exactly what would make us feel better, and still find it difficult to do?
Rather than beginning with “What’s wrong with me?”, I prefer to begin with:
“What’s really going on here?”
That curiosity sits at the heart of Open Ground.
Coaching that starts with your real life.
There is no fixed formula and no expectation that you should have all the answers before we begin.
Coaching offers a dedicated space to think, explore and gain perspective, whether you are navigating a significant transition, facing a decision, feeling overwhelmed, questioning what comes next, or simply recognising that something in your life is no longer working for you.
My role is to help you see more clearly what may be getting in the way, reconnect with your own resources and make considered choices about what happens next.
The work is grounded in your real circumstances, not an idealised version of who you think you should be.
Programmes and retreats.
Some areas of our lives benefit from more time, structure and shared exploration.
Open Ground programmes and retreats take particular themes and allow us to explore them more deeply through coaching, reflection, practical exercises and conversation.
Love, Examined explores dating, relationships and the patterns we bring to love, helping you understand yourself well enough to choose differently.
Life, Rebalanced explores our relationship with our body and everyday life: stress, food, movement, rest, boundaries, self-talk and what happens when our own needs continually come last.
Different subjects. The same underlying approach:
Understand what’s happening. Change the pattern. Create something that lasts.
Based in France, working with people wherever they are.
Open Ground is based in France, with coaching and online programmes available internationally, alongside in-person retreats and experiences.
Whether you are facing a particular decision, wanting to change a pattern, or simply know that something in your life needs attention, you don’t have to have everything figured out before you begin.
You just need somewhere to begin.