Tag Archive for: Ginkgo Collective

Why We Chose the Name Ginkgo Collective

We promised to tell you why we chose the name Ginkgo Collective for our new venture. It’s a story filled with personal history, serendipity and a lot of very old trees!

My love for trees started a long time ago. My sister Nora and I planted beech trees in the late 80s/early 90s that are still growing and thriving today. It’s a joy to see them. Since then, I’ve planted hundreds of trees. I will tell you about those in future blog posts. 

The Fossil Tree

The first time I remember hearing the word ginkgo was back in 2008. I had spent a few years working as a software localisation engineer in McAfee, Cork and saved up enough to see some of the world. I was traveling solo in Vietnam and met Jo and her boyfriend, Chris, on a tour of Halong Bay. Chris was on holiday and went back to work in England while Jo continued traveling solo. Our routes were similar and we met many times along the way in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Australia. We spent a lot of time together and always had fascinating conversations, trying to figure out life’s big questions. Jo had studied geology and I remember she told me she planned to name her imagined future dogs Ginkgo and Amber. She explained that ginkgo was a living fossil.

I don’t think it registered with me at the time that ginkgo was also a type of tree. How could something be a tree and a fossil? I don’t remember asking her at the time but the name stuck in my head.

[Note: It is often referred to as a ‘living fossil’ due to the discovery of Ginkgo fossils which indicate that the makeup of the tree has remained unchanged for 200 million years]

Even though Jo and Chris live in England now, Jo and I are still in sporadic touch today. She recently enrolled to do a counselling diploma and is delighted she played a part in naming this new venture.  

The Streets of Granada

My sister, Nora, lives in Spain and on a visit to her we took a trip to Granada where she pointed out that some of the streets were lined with ginkgo trees. She picked up one of the distinctive, fan-shaped leaves, pointed out its shape, and kept it on the back of her phone, where it stayed for a long time.

More recently, two years ago, I got a Christmas present of six trees, which included two beautiful ginkgo trees. They are some of my favourites in the garden. 

The Serendipity of the Name

When Robert and I started brainstorming names for our new venture, we struggled to come up with anything novel that we both liked or could agree on.

Then, one early Saturday morning, for some reason that trip to Granada with my sister came into my head. I was thinking about those beautiful street-lined trees. It hit me in a flash: Ginkgo! It was the perfect name.

I had recently seen two gorgeous ginkgo trees in Fota Gardens, and I subliminally sent a message to Robert by posting a photo on Instagram. By the time I spoke to him on Monday, I was ridiculously excited. 

He Googled the name and found Ginkgo Biloba. “Hang on a second,” he said, “this is the tree that they extract the pharmaceutical API from in Cara Partners, the company where my dad worked all his life!”

Robert was still slightly reluctant, but he couldn’t believe the sheer serendipity of the connection.

The Collective & The Confirmation

The collective part came easier. We always wanted a place to bring people together to learn and feel connected, supported and safe.

Then, just a short time later and completely unaware of our new venture, my good friend and storyteller Pat Speight gave me a present of a ginkgo tree to thank me for organising a storytelling gig for him in Coughlans, Cork. It was incredible confirmation, the name was right for us. 

Robert and I are both fairly skeptical and cynical people, but the serendipity, fate, destiny, or whatever you want to call it, of the ginkgo connections was undeniable.

This ancient tree, known for its endurance, its ability to survive catastrophe, and its beautiful renewal each season, perfectly captures the spirit of the Ginkgo part of our name. The Collective speaks directly to our mission: to create spaces where people can gather, learn, and grow together in safety.

Ginkgo Collective is founded on the principles of resilience, connection, and evidence-based learning to support personal and community growth.

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The Story Behind Ginkgo Collective

Ginkgo Collective began as a conversation between two people (the founders, Robert Hawkes and Mary Walsh) who had spent several years immersed in the world of psychotherapy learning. Through our work with PCPSI, we supported events, collaborated with international experts, and spent hundreds of hours helping bring complex ideas into clear, accessible formats.

Those years stayed with us. We saw how ideas drawn from neuroscience and psychophysiology can help people understand their reactions, relationships and wellbeing. We also saw how much more powerful that learning becomes when it takes place in a room where people feel connected, supported and safe.

When our careers moved in new directions, we found ourselves reflecting on that experience. We missed the sense of purpose that came from creating spaces where people could learn and connect. We began wondering whether we could build something of our own, shaped by what we valued most about those years.

At the same time, we were noticing the growing public interest in topics like the nervous system, regulation and resilience. These are areas we had lived and worked in, always guided by experts who grounded their work in evidence rather than trends. It felt natural to explore whether we could bring that kind of learning to a wider audience.

Polyvagal Theory emerged as the right starting point. Its focus on safety and co-regulation echoed what we had observed in every meaningful learning experience. Through conversations with experts and collaborators, the shape of our first event began to form.

The name came later. The ginkgo tree, with its history of endurance and renewal, captured the qualities we wanted this new venture to hold. A space for learning, connection, and growth.

Ginkgo Collective is our way of bringing together the best of what we experienced: science made accessible, learning made human, and community at the centre.

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