‘Bullying drove me to the brink of suicide’

The one time high flying executive Dympna Hannon, 44, has a Masters in Administration and Law and was a company secretary and business development manager.

It was while at that firm, where she thought she had landed the dream job, the single mum claims she was ‘bullied by exclusion.’

She says she went from a highly competent, confident and enthusiastic professional to a depressed, nervous wreck who was finally so beaten down that she walked away from her job to simply save her sanity.

She described the experience as ‘horrendous’ and claimed she was often given menial jobs.

Dympna had simply no idea that the depression she was suffering was caused by the alleged bullying until she sought counselling.

“I could not believe that I was a victim of bullying,” she said. “I did not recognise it. However, I was told by my doctor and my counsellor that I was.

“My life was at its absolute lowest ebb and I felt physically and mentally exhausted. I even had the thought ‘I wanted to die.’

“I knew I was learning and was happy to sit back but my senior manager changed every piece of work I did and my colleagues treated me like a wall flower, it was as if I wasn’t there. It was soul-destroying.

“I just felt so bruised and battered by the constant knockdowns, especially when I knew I could do the work.

“I had never walked out of a job and as a single parent it felt wrong to resign, but I couldn’t go on and I kept asking myself ‘What did I do wrong?’.

“I know now I hadn’t done anything.” After walking out of the job she retrained herself and set up her own clinic in April 2011, in Moira.

“Most people coming onto my courses don’t know how to love themselves and I teach them how to tune into their mind and body,” she said.

“What I am teaching now is something I didn’t know when I was depressed and which I have had to learn.

“I get people of all ages and all backgrounds for the life balancing work - everything from teachers, students, GPs, housewives - mostly people who are so stressed they can’t sleep at night because they are worrying too much.”

Dympna’s chronic pain relief treatment involves a very gentle, yet highly effective alternative to structural and muscular pain relief.

For more details on The Dympna Hannon Clinic Facebook page or by contacting Dympna on tel: 07824 337933