Have you ever thought about therapy?

A therapist is offering Union St members and followers a free trial session. Here’s what you need to know.

Union St now has a resident therapist. That’s not, may we point out, a reflection on working

conditions. Ciaran – an experienced psychotherapist – sees a private client downstairs once a week (in the ground floor meeting room) and is offering his service to Union St members and followers.

What’s the offer?

You can try a free 30-minute taster therapy session with no onward commitment. But don’t expect immediate questions about your childhood. Your relationship with your therapist is key, so the taster is just a chance to meet, chat about what you’re looking for, and see if Ciaran is the right fit.

Therapist Ciaran Hurley in the Union St cafe

Do I really need therapy?

“If you think you might, you probably do”, says Ciaran. “There’s probably a reason that thought is coming to you. And if it is, what’s the worst that can happen if you give it a go? At the very least, you’ll gain some insight into the issue that you’re grappling with”.

“People often come to me for help with one particular thing. It’s usually a hurdle that they need a bit of help with. It’s not always a big, traumatic thing – just something they haven’t found a way to resolve by themselves.”

Ciaran stresses that therapy can help with a whole range of things, including just some self-development. With some clients, he has more of a counselling relationship: meeting on a regular basis monthly, fortnightly or even weekly. He compares this to “mental flossing – a chance to check-in, tidy up, offload some stuff that is difficult to say to somebody else”.

Can you ‘complete’ therapy?

“It’s absolutely not about a cure. As a general rule, the therapeutic relationship is no longer needed when the benefit you were getting from it, you can now get from other things in life.

It’s about building that skill set and resilience.”

“A coaching relationship is often solution focused. There’s a thing – or a process – you needed help with. Once that’s achieved, we can go our separate ways!”.

So how do you get the ball rolling?

If you’re interested in trying therapy with Ciaran, you can book your free taster here. It can take place either at Union St or in his Site Gallery office, just down the road.

After your taster, therapy is £55 per 50-minute session – there’s no commitment, and no need to book more than one session at a time.

June's Lunch Pop-Ups

From 8:30am every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday our Baristas serve award winning Dark Peak locally roasted at Smith St alongside freshly baked pastries, with independent traders serving lunches from 12 til 2pm;

• Tuesday 3rd June: Nepalese tali plates by Prem 

• Wednesday 4th June: Internationally Street Food (V & Ve) by Icarus & Apollo

• Thursday 5th June: Black Heritage Soul Food by Urban Fusion

• Tues 10th: Authentic Pakistani Pakoras, Samosas and Curries by Azra

• Wed 11th: Internationally Inspired Street Food (V & Ve) by Icarus & Apollo

• Thurs 12th: Black Heritage Soul Food by Urban Fusion

• Tues 17th: Nepalese tali plates by Prem

• Wed 18th: Internationally Inspired Street Food (V & Ve) by Icarus & Apollo 

• Thurs 19th: Black Heritage Soul Food by Urban Fusion

• Tues 24th - New: Middle Eastern pop-up by Dani Nardi of Lemon & Zest

• Wed 25th - Internationally Inspired Street Food (V & Ve) by Icarus & Apollo

• Thurs 26th - Black Heritage Soul Food by Urban Fusion

  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

Coworking: What does ‘getting involved’ really mean?

‘Getting involved’ at Union St gets you 50% refunded from your monthly coworking fee. A solid offer. But what does it actually involve? And why is it priced like this in the first place?

“We wanted to do things differently” says Matt, Co-founder. “People are looking for more than a desk – they’ve got that at home. So the idea of building a community for the benefit of its members was really important”.

So, by getting involved, people can contribute in ways other than just handing over their money? “Exactly. About a third of people ‘get involved’ which is great. It's designed to be easy, and it's designed to be flexible”.

“But I recognise that others are juggling businesses, kids and so on. There’s absolutely no obligation to do it”.

What kind of things do people do then? Well, there’s loads on. Some people choose to

organise groups; this is just a small selection:

• Hot Yoga

• Gardening club

• Book Club

• Tuesday night running group

• Shared lunch crew

• The ADHD group

• After work drinks

• Live music outings

Then there's the practical things, like turning up at 7.45 in the morning to unlock the building and put the coffee on, or locking up in the evening. You could even write an article for the website, I suppose.

So Union Street benefits. And the individual? “I'd like to think that everybody feels that Union St is something that they are part of, rather than something that they’re a customer of. And I think they do... but you should ask them”.

So I did:

Will

Gets involved by... making smoothies for the 3pm break on Wednesdays, and then washes up afterwards. Time dedicated each week: half-an-hour or so.

Refund: 50%, worth £120 per month.

And did you benefit in other ways? “It forced me to be more social, which is a good thing. I felt more integrated sooner. Also, it’s just nice how grateful people are for it.”

Ella

Gets involved by... baking potatoes for everyone on a Monday lunchtime. Everyone brings a different topping, so there’s a whole spread of options (and a free lunch for everyone).

Time dedicated each week: 45 minutes a week.

Refund: 50%, worth £90 per month.

And did you benefit in other ways? “I came to Sheffield 18 months ago and didn't really know anybody. It’s been a really nice way to quickly get to know lots and lots of people.”

Sam

Bruno, Flo and Sam (right)

Gets involved by... running 'Have I Got Views For You': a weekly discussion based on a random topic each week. Could be literally anything (apart from politics).

Time dedicated each week: 45 minutes, an hour maybe.

Refund: 50%, worth £165 per month (Sam is a full time member)

And did you benefit in other ways? “They should call it the fast-track friends scheme.”

Want to get involved, but not sure what you’d do? Don’t worry. There’s always some ideas floating around. Chat to Matt and see if anything takes your fancy.

Still unsure? Really, the best way to suss things out is to book a free trial day.