I am a qualified psychotherapist, accredited by the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) and the Addiction Counsellors of Ireland (ACI).
Primary Degree
I graduated in 2004 at the top of my class with a first class honours degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy from Dublin Business School (DBS). I was also awarded the HETAC prize for Degree Student of the Year as recognition of academic excellence and encouragement for further study.
Reality Therapy and Choice Therapy
While completing my undergraduate training, I also successfully completed the Basic Intensive Course and the Basic Practicum in Reality Therapy and Choice Theory with the William Glasser Institute. The former consisted of a four and a half day full time series of talks, activities and practice sessions, which is the first step, of five, in the formal Reality Therapy or Choice Theory certification training process. The Practicuum consisted of 30 hours, under supervision, over a 6 month period.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Also while completing my undergraduate training, I attended a number of day long seminars on Cognitive Behavioural approaches to psychosis, shame and self-attacking run by the Department of Psychiatry in Trinity College, Dublin.
Addiction Training
On graduating from DBS, I immediately started a year long, full time Internship Programme in Addiction Counselling in the Rutland Centre.
To see what the training involves, expand the tab below.
See what the training involves
- Handling calls, in the assessment department, from potential clients or concerned family members/partners and following up appropriately be that arranging an assessment, providing information about the programme and pre-admission requirements or making appropriate referrals elsewhere.
- Responsibility for the scheduling and carrying out of assessments as well as the subsequent drafting of reports, following up where necessary and filing.
- Preparing admission papers and carrying out admission procedures with new clients and distributing relevant parts appropriately.
- Facilitated and co-facilitated pre-admission groups, family intervention groups, residential treatment groups, specialised eating disorder treatment groups, eating disorder continuing care groups, women’s groups, concerned persons’ groups and discharge groups.
- Carried out individual induction sessions with new clients, individual sessions with clients during their treatment, individual exit interviews as well as the subsequent drafting of reports, liaising with co-workers and filing.
- Preparation and delivering of presentations.
- Attending and contributing to team meetings
Continuing Professional Development
During this time I also attended a number of 1-2 daylong conferences on a range of topics including:-
– suicide bereavement
– gambling
– relapse prevention
– helping women recover
– food addiction and eating disorders
Addiction Experience
On successful completion of my internship, I was employed as an addiction counsellor in the continuing care department of the Rutland Centre until 2008.
See what the role involves
- Responsible for initiating and maintaining weekly contact and therapeutic support, over the phone (or in person, if required), with each client for six weeks (or longer should they need it) following their completion of the residential programme.
- Provided long-term individual psychotherapy on a weekly basis for a number of clients, a large number of whom presented with eating/food/body related issues.
- Provided brief individual psychotherapy sessions for those having just relapsed or in crisis.
Psychoanalytic Training and Experience
In 2005, I also started the pre-clinical programme for the Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy training course with the Lincoln Clinic and Centre for Psychotherapy in London.
Learn more about the modules
- Infant Observation: the observation of a mother with her baby for one hour weekly in their home (and later creche) for over a year. Observations were written up in detail and presented at weekly seminars.
- Work Discussion: Psychotherapeutic work with children followed by extensive note-taking and subsequent discussion at weekly seminars for 4 academic terms.
- Theoretical Seminars: Weekly attendance at lectures on Freud, Klein and child development for 4 academic terms.
- Personal Psychotherapy: Individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy with an approved Psychotherapist for a minimum of three times weekly, which I attended for a number of years.
- Personal Supervision: I had weekly supervision with a psychoanalyst from the (British) Institute of Psychoanalysis.
