The sailor who navigates through life’s difficulties to set people on the right course
Irish teacher Marie Byrne set sail for the UAE 10 years ago in the hope of watching the America’s Cup up close a few years later.
Scheduled to be held off the coast of Ras al Khaimah in 2010, the ocean race was switched to Valencia in Spain after a complaint from the American team and subsequent legal battle over unfair racing conditions. Ms Byrne, however, chose to stay in the UAE after securing a job teaching special needs children at Sharjah English School.
A keen sailor and experienced skipper, Ms Byrne became an established figure in the RAK sailing community. But once the prospect of hosting the 33rd America’s Cup vanished from the coast of the Northern Emirates, so did a lot of the investment and sailing opportunities.
Ms Byrne then moved south to join Dubai Offshore Sailing Club. Relocating to Dubai made her realise there was a growing need for mental health support for adults, as well as children, outside her day job.
She has since merged her skills as a UK-trained bereavement counsellor and sailing instructor to help troubled people find the answers to life’s difficult questions.
Ms Byrne worked for 15 years in mental health in the UK before relocating to the UAE, and the more people she met through her new life in Dubai, the more she realised there was a demand for mental health support services.
Since then, demand for her specialist services and mental health training has led her to focus on one-to-one counselling sessions alongside teaching.
She wrote a book using the case studies of those who have gone through the self-actualisation programme she teaches. The process encourages people to explore the root cause of mental health issues so they can be dealt with free of medication and long-term mental health support.
Self-Actualisation: Against the Odds was published this year after four years of writing and preparation. It offers a road map on how to deconstruct mental health issues.
Ms Byrne now wants to train others in the techniques to help people come to terms with the way they live their lives. “My work is about helping people to find the answers to their issues within themselves,” she says.
“It is positive psychology that is based on the Rogerian theory, giving people the tools to get unstuck from whatever position they have found themselves in.
“When they find that root cause, it releases that person from the process driving their anger and frustrations.”
Sailing is a male-dominated world, says Ms Byrne, who races her new yacht Dreams at events at DOSC and skippers a largely male crew. The challenges she has faced on the world’s oceans have taught her valuable lessons she can pass on to others.
“If you win a race as a woman, other boats ask, ‘What man was on the helm?’” she says. “Attitudes can be frustrating. Solo sailing has given me real belief that if you have a real passion for something and set out to achieve a goal, it can be done. What I have achieved has shown me this method works. Anyone can be whoever they want to be if they work hard enough. “If I can do this, anyone can. “There must be a commitment to want to change, that is most important.”