Job Title: National Projects Manager
Company: Shine
Kahlil Thompson Coyle is the National Projects Manager for Shine – Supporting people affected by mental ill health, and has been working with the organisation for over 8 years. Within her role, Kahlil manages Headline, Ireland’s National Media Monitoring programme for suicide and mental health and is Campaign Manager for See Change, the national programme working to change minds about mental health problems in Ireland. See Change is a partnership of over fifty organisations working to create a disruptive, community driven social movement to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health problems. Kahlil has also managed Shine’s Life Hope Suicide Prevention initiative and the Ár nglór Community Mental Health Advocacy project. Kahlil holds a BA in History from the University of California at Berkeley and an MA in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Prior to working with Shine, she was an Analyst with the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna, Austria.
Job Title: Dialectic Behavioural Therapist
Company: Nua
Dr Margaret Wasz is an Existential Psychotherapist and holds a PhD in Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, MA in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, MPhil in Psychoanalytical Studies. Her clinical experience includes working with patients in drug rehabilitation programmes and private practice. She is on the Visiting Faculty at Regent’s College School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, London.
She is currently part of an evolving multidiscipline therapeutic group in Nua Healthcare Ireland where mindfulness based cognitive therapies are utilised. Her research interests include Husserl’s phenomenological philosophy and its effect on therapeutic practice and the ability of the therapist to apply the epoché within the therapeutic relationship. She is presently researching the relationship between anxiety and the female endocrine system.
Job Title: General Director
Company: Stichting 1nP
1nP, networkorganisation is for professionals working in the field of mental health. 1nP is a non-profit organisation and the care we provide is 100% insured as a component of the legally obliged health insurance plan each Dutch citizen has to have. We work with about 600 professionals nationwide and of all kinds of professions e.g... Psychiatrists, psychologist, psychotherapists etc.
Every professional works out of their own practice but in full compliance with the guidelines of our company. All clients are "our clients" and we facilitate the professionals to work in a multidisciplinary way, if the treatment plan of the individual client needs this kind of mutual cooperation.
The company was established in 2003 and operational since 2004.
Gerard van Kesteren was born in 1959 and was educated in various disciplines including, as a primary teacher (6-12) age group, seven years universal degree in special childcare education and is also a mental health psychologist & psychotherapist. He has worked for 17 years in an outpatient clinic in the children and family department specialising as a systemic therapist.
Since 2004 Gerard has worked as General Director of Stichting 1nP.
Job Title: Psychiatrist
Company: Ennis General Hospital (retired)
Consultant Psychiatrist for County Clare’s Mental Health Services since 1983 and Consultant Psychiatrist in Bushypark Resident Alcohol and Drug Treatment Centre in Ennis. He has recently retired from hospital based practice since July 2011 but continues private practice in Ennis and his work in the Bushpark Center.
Born in South Africa of Indian origin, he studied medicine in the Royal College of Surgeons In Dublin where he qualified in 1971. He returned to South Africa where he worked from 1971-1975 in various specialities including Psychiatry and General Practice. In 1975 he decided to enter higher specialist training in Psychiatry in Cork and in 1983 he obtained a Consultancy post in Ennis. His special interests in Psychiatry include; alcohol and drug abuse and social and environmental factors.
He is a former Clare Labour T.D elected to the Dail in 1992.
Job Title: Minister of State, with responsibility for Mental Health
Company: Department of Health
Political Career:
Appointed Minister of State for Disability, Equality & Mental Health - Department of Health & Department of Justice, Equality & Defence , March 2011
Contested the General Election in 2002,2007 and 2011
First Elected to Dáil Eireann in 1994
Elected to Cork Corporation in 1985
Occupation:
Full-time Public Representative
Memberships:
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health,2007
Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights 2002-2007
Member of Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, 2002 - May 2006
Family Background:
Married to Bernard Lynch with 4 children.
Job Title: President
Company: Psychological Society of Ireland
Mary Morrissey is President of the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) and Director of Psychology for Health Intelligence (HI), Health Service Executive (HSE). She also works clinically providing psychological intervention for the Diabetes Clinic in Connolly Memorial Hospital, Dublin.
Mary holds an MSc in Research from Trinity College Dublin (1986) and a BA (Hons) from University College Cork (1980). She holds a Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy (1994), and a Senior Managers in Government (SMG) Diploma from Harvard (2006). Mary has previously served on the Change Management Team for the interim Health Service Executive; Regional Director of Services for Children on the Autistic Spectrum in Dublin Mid-Leinster Region; and Head of Psychology, Cheeverstown House, Dublin.
Mary’s role within Health Intelligence involves using evidence in the following areas: implementation of policy into practice; strengthening decision making; and developing creative solutions for complex organizational challenges. She is responsible for providing expert knowledge on quality improvement and change management.
Health Intelligence is the department which captures and uses knowledge to support decision-making in order to improve the health of the population. Mary is an executive board member of the European Society for Quality in Healthcare (ESQH).
Job Title:
Company: Peter McVerry Trust
Fr. Peter McVerry SJ was ordained as a Jesuit Priest in 1975. While working as a priest in the Inner City in Dublin, he encountered some homeless children and opened a hostel for them in 1979. He subsequently opened five hostels, a residential drug detox centre, two drug-free after care houses, a residential drug stabilisation centre and about ten apartments for long-term accommodation needs. The organisation he started was called the Arrupe Society but was renamed several years ago as the Peter McVerry Trust. He has written on many issues relating to young homeless people, such as accommodation, drugs, juvenile justice, the gardai, the prisons and education. In 2003, he produced a book of his writings, called “The Meaning is in the Shadows”. His most recent publication is “Jesus – Social Revolutionary?”
Job Title: CEO
Company: GROW
Michele Kerrigan has been the Chief Executive Officer of GROW in Ireland – World Community Mental Health Movement in Ireland, since 2007. Prior to this, she was Deputy CEO of Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland with special responsibility for the MS Care Centre. She was involved at both a European and International level representing MS Ireland. She was instrumental in producing two booklets aimed at supporting people with new diagnoses of the MS. She has considerable experience of the statutory and voluntary sector. Michele has contributed to the development of new structures within GROW in Ireland as well as the development, implementation and monitoring of strategic plans. She campaigns for improved mental health services and has a strong focus on a recovery- based approach to mental health provision, which, is in line with GROW in Irelands’ Program of Recovery. She is a Board Member of the Mental Health Reform which campaigns for improved and prioritized mental health services in Ireland. Michele holds a diploma in Health and Social Care and Business Computing. She is currently in the final year of her Masters in Management in the Voluntary and Community Sector.
Job Title: Medical Director
Company: St Patrick's University Hospital
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry TCD; Consultant Adult Psychiatrist; Medical Director, St. Patrick`s University Hospital, Dublin.
Special Interests: Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Medical Management
Prof. Jim Lucey is Medical Director of St. Patricks University Hospital since 2008. He has more than 20 years experience in psychiatry. In addition to medical management he maintains a clinical practice at St. Patrick`s where he works on the assessment, diagnosis and management of obsessive compulsive disorders.
Prof. Lucey qualified in RCSI in 1977. He trained in Dublin at St. Patricks University Hospital and in London at the Maudsley Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry. In 1993 he was appointed Consultant Psychiatrist and Director of Psychiatric Intensive Care in St. Bartholomew`s Hospital in London. He returned to Ireland in 1997 to become a Consultant Psychiatrist working in the community with the Health Board (HSE) at Connolly Hospital in Dublin.
In 2002 he was appointed to St. Patricks where he became the Director of the Anxiety Disorders Programme and senior clinician with responsibility for electro-convulsive therapy. As Medical Director he is part of a team dedicated to delivering the commitments of Mental Health Matters our 5 year strategy, to provide a network of community Dean Clinics throughout Ireland, establish Willowgrove a completely new service for adolescent`s mental health, and reorganise all of the hospital services and programmes along the principles of recovery.
Professor Lucey`s main interest is in service development and mental health advocacy. His recent lectures have been on talks on diverse topics such as “Burnout” and “OCD in the Workplace”. He is a regular contributor on mental health with Pat Kenny on the RTE radio show “Today with PK”.
Job Title: General Practitioner
Company: Stillorgan GP
Dr. O'Flaherty is a GP with a special interest in nutrition in mental health.
In my youth when I had finished my GP training I worked for 4 years in psychiatry and in the last year I was a registrar in the Drug Clinic in Jervis St Hospital. When the first HIV positive patient was diagnosed I immediately started what would now be described as a methadone maintenece programme to try to stop the spread of AIDS. None of my colleagues agreed and it took several years for methadone maintenance to become strandard practice.
I always planned to be a GP but psychiatry is the most interesting part of it, especially since I started to study the biochemistry of mental illness in 1999. Mental health problems are physical conditions which manifests themselves in different ways as regards thoughts and behaviour. When I do a whole series of tests on eg somebody with depression I can usually recognise various chemical disturbances which are at least partly responsible for the problem. I often find high serum copper for example and this produces a great deal of adrenaline so the patient is usually anxious and depressed. Zinc is used to bring down the copper level as well as a whole range of other nutrients-vitamins,minerals,essential fatty acids and amino acids. I use antidepressants too of course but many of those with this type of depression will be able to come off medication and remain well. Many women in particular find this treatment very helpful as it does not depress their libido and it is safe in pregnancy.Side effects are not significant as a rule.
Those with a history of psychosis will need to stay on medication but the psychiatrists often reduce the dose as they get better. About 20% of those with schizophrenia get no benefit from nutrients and this figure is as high as 85% in severe OCD. For that reason I do not see any point in seeing patients with pure OCD. I used see some autistic children and some did quite well but the Irish Medicines Board blocked the nutrients coming from America so I had to abandon them.
I went to Sydney in 2006 for a course on nutrition in mental health provided by 2 doctors and a scientist from the Pfeiffer Center in Chicago.The yearly course in Australia is usually attended by GPs but some psychiatrists have attended too.
I initially treated only my own patients but gradually the word got out so I see hundreds of patients every year. I decided early this year that I would like to pass on some of my knowledge to a new generation and agreed to be interviewed in the Irish Independent. One of my patients featured in it and she described how she got well here having achieved no relief from attending several French psychiatrists.
I see many patients who have been mentally unwell for years and yet they recover in a few months when I treat them,One might expect this knowlege to spread but it has not done so in the medical community.
Job Title: Deputy Director
Company: National Suicide Research Foundation
Paul Corcoranis Deputy Director of National Suicide Research Foundation Irelandwhere he has worked since the Foundation was established in 1994. Paul contributes to the development and implementation of the Foundation’s research and publication programme and the continued development of the Irish National Registry of Deliberate Self Harm. He has more than fifty peer-reviewed scientific publications and has contributed chapters to international texts on the epidemiology of suicidal behaviour. He was also a member of the writing group of Reach Out, Ireland’s National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention.
Job Title: founder Imagine Health
Company: Freshstart
Dr. Gargan has a diverse professional background including medicine, psychology and clinical management. Ian holds a BSc in Applied Psychology from University College Cork, an MSc in Forensic Psychology from the University of Leicester, an MB BCh BA BAO from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from Smurfit Business School. He established Gargan Psychological Services over ten years ago and this involved the provision of clinical management to many areas of health care for the Health Services Executive, Ireland and various state departments including Justice and Children. Ian gained medical training in a number of Tertiary care hospitals including the Mater Misericordiae Teaching Hospital, Dublin. He is the Clinical Director of Fresh Start Ltd., a specialist child care company. Ian is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. He has created new businesses and invigorated established companies for many years, always aiming to utilise the respective institutions owns skills as well as apply new ones with cutting edge technology and innovative solutions.
Job Title: Partner & Head of Health Services
Company: ByrneWallace
Sinead is a Partner and Head of the ByrneWallace Health Services Department, Ireland’s largest provider of legal health services. She manages and leads the Health Services Department to consistently high performance in quality and delivery of service. Sinead relies on her excellent skill set and considerable experience in advising health care clients on a diverse range of legal healthcare issues. She is regarded as one of the country’s foremost experts in child care law.
Job Title: CEO
Company: reachout.com
A senior executive with over 25 year’s experience in the print and broadcast sectors, Elaine has held a number of senior management positions in some of Ireland’s most dynamic and innovative media brands – most from start up phase. Brands included the Sunday Tribune and Communicorp Group Ltd. (CGL) Radio stations 98FM and Newstalk.
Elaine held the position of Group Product Manager for CGL’s European portfolio of radio stations (42) between 2003 and 2005 before being appointed CEO at Newstalk 106-108, Irelands only national independent talk broadcaster. AS CEO she lead the station from local to award winning national brand.
Elaine resigned in 2009 to pursue further education (PhD) and joined Inspire Ireland as CEO in March, 2010. Inspire deliver ReachOut.com an online psycho-educational resource for young people.
Elaine holds an MBA (First Class Hons) in Marketing.
