Welcome to my website and thank you for stopping by.  Here I want to share my story about my health, wellness and daily management of my chronic invisible illness with you if you have any sort of problems with pain, I hope you will find my experience useful. On a practical level, I have included several free hypnotherapy downloads that are truly effective for focusing your mind and overcoming challenges.

Some people know me from my work in Media; I have worked in broadcasting both in production behind the camera and in front of the camera presenting shows such as Animal A&E for TV3 among others. I have also worked in radio for many years presenting various shows for Dublin’s Sunshine 106.8. It was my dream to work in the busy world of TV and radio and I love every minute of it despite my daily battle with pain.

In recent years I’ve been very lucky to be able to create new work from my love of writing – who knew all those diary entries would pay off! My memoir and self help book, Pain Free Life; My Journey to Wellness is out this year from Mercier Press. I also regularly write features for magazines like Women’s Way, and edit The Irish Wedding Diary magazine. I still enjoy journaling every day and find it vitally important to my wellness routine.

My life changed in 2013. After years of struggling to manage and hide my invisible illness, chronic pain caused by spinal stenosis and disk degeneration, I was told that an MRI scanhad  found I had a rare brain disorder Chiari Malformation 1.

This truly made me STOP. I decided to take TIME OUT and effectively began to take charge of my own healing. I began a journey of wellness to try to manage my own chronic pain. I want to share what I have learned along the way about becoming an empowered patient and also how I believe we can use the power of our own sub conscious minds to change our health and our lives.

What Inspires me…

My work has always been a great source of inspiration in my life, my passion for highlighting animal cruelty and abandonment was central to my reasons for working on Animal A&E.

For the last two years I have focused on the whole area of chronic pain. I am passionate about highlighting awareness for this illness, which is the largest global health burden and although it is one of the biggest medical problems it is still under diagnosed, under resourced and remains a very complex condition and a challenge for both health care professionals and patients alike.

I currently sit on the board of Chronic Pain Ireland and I hope my story of living with constant pain will inspire others and provide insight for loved ones who want to support and understand the daily struggle of life with an invisible illness. I am working on presenting and producing a documentary series on the subject; I want more people to be talking about and understanding pain.

My hope is that pain will be considered a disease in its own right by the medical world, so people (like me) who struggle daily to cope, will be treated with the same urgency as any other patient with a chronic disease. Every person I have met through my work with Chronic Pain Ireland and my ‘Pain friends’ moves me, their strength, courage and resilience in the face of pain fires me up to keep going to promote awareness and understanding of the condition.

The loves of my life…

I am married and I feel so blessed to have the love and support of my husband David, my daughter Brooke and my beloved 4-legged child and constant companion Dash (my handsome Labrador retriever). The constant daily battle with pain can be relentless but my family are my sunshine, even on my darkest days they illuminate me, always willing me to have hope for tomorrow, and not let pain win today.

I am a certified clinical hypnotherapist with the National Guild of Hypnotists and regularly use my own form of ‘healing hypnosis relaxation’ not only to manage my own pain but to bring about positivity in many areas of my life. I studied with Niamh Flynn from Bodywatch and I regard it as one of the most significant things I did on my journey to wellness. Hypnosis has changed my life and I practice self-hypnosis daily.

As a trained ALCM Speech and Drama teacher, the use of the English language is an ongoing passion; on my wellness journey I explored the language of pain. The word PAIN itself didn’t seem to fit, in society we associate it with a specific illness or disease and generally the cycle of pain has a beginning, middle and end. Not in my case, it was constant and for no real apparent meaning so for my treatment and management of my illness I changed the word and replaced PAIN with SENSATIONS so I could say I had manifested my dream to live PAIN FREE.

I am a strong believer in alternative healing, I began my Tera – Mai Reiki training journey and I hope to continue to become a Reiki Master with my wonderful teacher, friend and constant inspiration Aidan Storey. Various types of complimentary healing techniques are incorporated in my daily pain management.

I had the pleasure of meeting and training with Doreen Virtue during a Hay House course in London and I am now a certified angel card reader.

I relish being an active part of my community and my parish St Anne’s in Shankill have welcomed me with open arms and for that I am very grateful. I recently completed my Bethany training and feel very privileged to be a volunteer for this ministry. As a Bethany volunteer we provide a free parish based service, which aims to support all who are bereaved through the grieving process.

I cherish my marriage and feed my love of all things wedding related in my role as Editor for Ireland’s much loved bridal magazine The Irish Wedding Diary.

I don’t eat meat! On this wellness journey I am constantly exploring ways to enhance my health and well being and after doing a strict 4 week vegan diet and cookery course I could instantly see the benefits of my new diet choices, rather than restriction I felt opened up to a whole new healthy and delicious way of eating and cooking. So since then I haven’t eaten any meat, however I haven’t strictly followed the vegan regime.

I am eternally grateful that you are here and you are taking the time to join me on the website and be part of this journey with me.

TV Work

Andrea is best known for presenting TV3’s hugely successful series ‘Ireland’s Animal A&E’, ‘Coming Home For Christmas’ and Life Stories in Dublin Airport. She is also a regular guest presenter on TV3’s all female panel show Midday and has regularly contributed to the breakfast show Ireland AM over the years. She has been working with TV3 since 2005. Andrea’s voice is familiar to the TV3 audience as she was the continuity voice of the station for over 8 years, during 2008 viewers were able to ‘put a face to the voice’, as the station’s daytime continuity links went ‘in-vision’ for two years.

Animal A&E

In the hugely successful Animal A&E series, Andrea Hayes follows the dedicated individuals who devote their lives to the protection, wellbeing and prevention of cruelty to animals. From the elite veterinary professionals to the defenders of animal welfare, we gain unlimited access behind the scenes and on the road with Ireland’s unsung animal heroes. Andrea was also the Associate Producer on Animal A&E which has a total of 56 episodes including ‘Christmas Specials’, ‘Re-homing Specials’ and ‘A&E Investigates Irelands Puppy Farms and Irelands Equine Crisis’. The popular format has aired across 12 countries, including The United States, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Canada and on Channel 5 in the UK.

Dublin Airport Life Stories

In a time when emigration is at an all time high, Dublin Airport encompasses every aspect of life, a place of new beginnings and tearful endings, where families embrace their loved ones and where partners say goodbye, forced apart by circumstance. Presented by Andrea Hayes, this eight part series follows the broad range of stories which are part of daily life at Dublin Airport.

Dublin Airport Coming Home for Christmas

Christmas is a time for families to come together and spend quality time with each other – and nobody understands this more than the people who travel for hours, and even days, to make it home in time for Christmas. During the festive season, Andrea Hayes will be at Dublin Airport’s arrivals gate to capture the special moments as families are reunited and friends are brought back together once more. Witness the emotional and often tearful moments as passengers are reunited with their loved ones.

Radio & Voice over Work

Andrea keeps busy with regular radio and voice-over work. She has been working for Dublin’s Sunshine 106.8 since 2009, presenting various shows with the station including, Mellow Moments, The ‘Sunday Stress busters’ ‘Here Comes the weekend’ talk show and ‘Saturday Live’. She Currently presents ‘Sunshine Meets’. During her time with the station Andrea has interviewed some of the biggest names in Country music including legendary artists like James Taylor, Don McClean, Paul Brady and Sugarland to name just a few. As a voice over artist she is regular demand with many clients using her distinctive friendly voice and is currently the voice of Blue insurance’s Pet, Gadget, Travel and Wedding cover.

Writing and Editorial work

Andrea has just completed her first book with Mercier Press. She is also the Editor for the Irish Wedding Diary magazine. Her flair for writing has seen her articles appear regularly in Woman’s Way magazine, she has also written for, Slainte Health Magazine, Chronic Pain Ireland, Oh Baby magazine, The Waiting Room magazine and is looking forward to more writing work in 2016.

Motivational Speaking

Andrea is in demand as a motivational speaker on wellness, healing and personal growth. She was thrilled to be one of the guest speakers at both the Woman’s Way Health & Wellbeing show’s in Dublin and Cork. Through her work with Chronic Pain Ireland, she has also been very involved in the first ever Pain Management Course for CPI, delivering many presentations which focus on her own method of self-care and her own practical tools for daily management of pain taken from her book ‘Pain Free Life’ During the duration of the 12 week course she also explored hypnosis for healing.  In her talks she speaks from her heart, truthfully and from a place of empathy and experience. Candidly sharing her deeply personal journey of life in pain and even managing to find humour in her darkest hours, her infectious positivity is why audiences are drawn to her approach.

MC Hosting

Andrea is very familiar to the hosting circuit and has been the yearly MC of the prestigious ‘Bride of the year show’ in the RDS, Irelands largest Wedding Fair. She also regularly works for Dublin City Council as an MC at Pets in the City, The Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Festival of Inclusion and the Smithfield Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. She has also been a guest presenter at the PPI Radio Awards and the Shark Adverting Awards.