Joan Freeman (; born 2 April 1958) is an Irish psychologist, mental health activist and an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

politician who served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 2016 to 2020, after being

nominated A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...

by the then

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

. She is the founder of Pieta House, a national mental health services charity. She resigned from Pieta House in 2014. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2018 presidential election.

Pieta House

Freeman is the founder of Pieta House, a suicide intervention charity established in 2006 in

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

, County Dublin. Since 2006, Pieta House has established twelve additional centres across Ireland with almost 270 therapists and administration staff, providing free therapeutic services to over 30,000 people. In 2008, Freeman founded the annual fund-raising event Darkness into Light in aid of Pieta House. Begun with 400 participants, approximately 200,000 people participated in the May 2018 recent iteration of the event. The 5 km walk took place across 180 venues worldwide. Then Taoiseach

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...

was among the 15,000 people who undertook the walk in Dublin's

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tre ...

. Freeman resigned from Pieta House in 2014, in order to concentrate on developing Solace House, a similar charity based in

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launched in 2015. The service was initially created to serve the Irish diaspora in New York, but has since supported and counselled people from many different nationalities.

Political career

In 2016, Freeman was nominated by then Taoiseach,

, as a member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

. She helped form, and now chairs, Ireland's first Committee on the Future of Mental Healthcare. She is also a member of the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. She is a former member of the Council for Justice and Peace of the

Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference ( ga, Comhdháil Easpag Caitliceach Éireann) is the episcopal conference of the Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland. The conference meets a number of times a year in Maynooth which is the location of St Patr ...

, at one time speaking to raise awareness on suicide prevention training programmes provided by Pieta House. Freeman received the nomination of four councils required to be a candidate in the 2018 presidential election. The incumbent President

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

was running for re-election and an election was held on 26 October 2018. ''The Times'' described Freeman as having "strong family links with the anti-abortion movement". Her sister, Theresa Lowe, and her niece, Maria Steen, argued for a No vote in the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment on televised debates on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

and TV3. Steen is a member of the

Iona Institute The Iona Institute is a socially conservative, Christian, advocacy group, frequently described as a Catholic pressure group based in Ireland. Founded by columnist David Quinn, it was launched publicly in 2007. Iona promotes conservative Christ ...

. Freeman has said that although she voted No in the referendum, she "would be happy to carry the voice of the people and sign resulting legislation into law as president" and noted her daughter's involvement in the Yes campaign. Independent TD Mattie McGrath will support Freeman if she runs, stating that "a good Catholic president would be refreshing". If elected, Freeman has said she will set up a "National Assembly of Well-being". During the campaign, the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' reported on a speech by Freeman in which she claimed that her

eczema Dermatitis is inflammation of the Human skin, skin, typically characterized by itchiness, erythema, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become lichenification, thick ...

had been miraculously cured following a visit to

Knock Shrine The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, commonly referred to as Knock Shrine, is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an apparition in 1879 of the Ble ...

when she was a teenager.

Personal life

Freeman is a native of Dublin. The sixth of the eight children of Marie and John Lowe, she lived in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

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, where her parents moved when she was a baby. Her family returned to Dublin when she was 12, and her father took up a job managing his brother's pub, The Sword, on

Camden Street Camden Street ( ga, Sráid Camden) is a street in Dublin 2. It links Ranelagh/Rathmines ( Dublin 6) to the southern city centre of Dublin. It is divided into Camden Street Upper (southern end) and Camden Street Lower (northern end). History Th ...

. She is married to Patrick Freeman and has four children. She holds a degree and MA in psychology. In June 2018, Freeman received the Trailblazer Award from the Women's Executive Network, Ireland. In 2019,

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

awarded her with an honorary doctorate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Joan 1958 births Living people Members of the 25th Seanad 21st-century women members of Seanad Éireann Irish humanitarians Irish psychologists Irish women psychologists Independent members of Seanad Éireann Nominated members of Seanad Éireann Politicians from Dublin (city) Candidates for President of Ireland People associated with Trinity College Dublin People from Dublin (city) in health professions