Former Cork model builds new career after bottle attack
Katie O'Donoghue almost lost an eye after being struck on the forehead by a glass bottle thrown in the crowd at the 2017 Longitude music festival. Picture: Miki Barlok
A former model who was left scarred physically and emotionally after she was struck by a bottle at a music festival has launched a new career as a self-care and mindset coach for women.
Katie O’Donoghue, 27, from Cork, said she was stuck in a “toxic cycle of self-hate” until her move to Australia earlier last year and the pandemic, gave her time to focus on what really matters.
And she has urged young people who are struggling with the pandemic restrictions to step back from technology and find 30-minutes each day to focus on their mental, spiritual and emotional health.
“Your mind is used for everything in life," Katie said. "It’s time to make that a priority and step back from the technology addiction — try going a day without it all and see how much it helps, have face-to-face connections when you can without your phone in tow and notice how much life changes.
“I went from feeling really low in my self-image, and having a lot of self-hate to having a healthier self-image and loving myself for who I am and for what my body is."
“I want to help because I have been in that dark hole and worn a mask for so long feeling almost suffocated in life, pretending to ‘have it all together’ and to be something I was not.
“I want to show other women that if I can transform and heal the relationship with myself then so can you.”
Katie, who was crowned Miss Universe Cork in 2014 and 2019, almost lost an eye after being struck on the forehead by a glass bottle thrown in the crowd at the 2017 Longitude music festival.
Before the incident, she said she had been striving to achieve perfection because the modelling and beauty industry, social media and various people she had been exposed to had helped to cultivate deep-rooted insecurities within her.
She said she had an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise, and often hid in them in a bid to bury her emotions.
And while her head wound required nine stitches, she said the incident left an even deeper scar to her emotional and mental health.
“I saw a therapist for two years for self-image issues and found that I wasn’t making fast enough progress,” she said.
“I never really understood how all of the things in my life were affecting my self-perception. I never really understood the causes of my imbalances or how I could be consumed by a global disease called fear.
“I didn’t want to face my struggles and became so lost in the ‘busyness’ of life as if being busy represented that I was truly alive.
“I was always doing things to make others happy, often neglecting my own needs and values."
“I had become addicted to the voice within my head — so repetitive and so negative. I was plagued by doubts and insecurities that left me with sleepless nights and unable to find the root cause.
“I was stuck in a toxic cycle of self-hate.”
After settling early in 2020 on Manly Beach, on The Northern Beaches region of New South Wales, Australia, Katie completed a coaching course with the UK-based The Clique, and she is now working towards her International Coaching Federation credentials.
She also completed a diploma in anxiety management and is considering a return to college to do a degree in psychology.
She is now offering online courses to women on self-image and mental well-being.
“A lot of people focus on their physical health thinking that is all you need to be well but I discovered that is not the case when I had my accident in 2017,” she said.
“It is so important to become aware of the ways that you can actively engage in proper self-care: emotional, mental, spiritual and physical — the ways that you can heal and strengthen the relationship with yourself.”
You can find out more on her website katieodonoghue.com or on my Instagram @selfcarecoach_.
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