Secure Start Podcast Episode 3: Dr. Nicola O'Sullivan

04/08/25 • 63 min

Welcome to the Secure Start Podcast. I am Colby Pearce, and joining me for this episode is a respected member of the child protection and social care community in Ireland.

Before I introduce my guest, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land I am meeting on, the Kaurna people, and the continuing connection they and all aboriginal people feel to land, waters, culture, and community. I would also like to pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging.

My guest this episode is Dr Nicola O’Sullivan . . .

Nicola’s Bio

Nicola is a Lecturer, Clinical Supervisor and Social Care Consultant, and has worked with children and families in community and residential settings for 24 years.

Nicola’s work has included overseeing the provision of residential and community-based services to children and families involved in child protective services.

Nicola also works intensively with foster carers to support their provision of care to children and young people.

Over a five-year period Nicola studied at the Tavistock and Portman Trust NHS, London. There she completed a Professional Doctorate in Social Care and Emotional Wellbeing.

Nicola completed post graduate training in clinical supervision in 2021 at Dublin City University (DCU). She provides therapeutic support to Sexual Assault Unit Teams across Ireland in the form of professional therapeutic reflective practice spaces to frontline practitioners.

Nicola consults to senior managers in organisations nationally and internationally, and provides individual and group supervision to social workers, social care workers, forensic teams, and frontline workers at all levels in community and hospital settings. Nicola works clinically in frontline practice with foster families.

Nicola has a special interest in wellbeing, racism, and emotional and relational health in health and social care settings. Nicola is a visiting lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, Munster Technological University Cork, and the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation Trust.

In this episode we discuss supervision in social work and social care settings.

We hope you like our conversation.

Disclaimer

Information reported by guests of this podcast is assumed to be accurate as stated. Podcast owner Colby Pearce is not responsible for any error of facts presented by podcast guests. In addition, unless otherwise specified, opinions expressed by guests of this podcast may not reflect those of the podcast owner, Colby Pearce.

Welcome to the Secure Start Podcast. I am Colby Pearce, and joining me for this episode is a respected member of the child protection and social care community in Ireland.

My guest this episode is Dr Nicola O’Sullivan . . .

Nicola’s Bio

Nicola is a Lecturer, Clinical Supervisor and Social Care Consultant, and has worked with children and families in community and residential settings for 24 years.

Nicola’s work has included overseeing the provision of residential and community-based services to children and families involved in child protective services.

Nicola also works intensively with foster carers to support their provision of care to children and young people.

Over a five-year period Nicola studied at the Tavistock and Portman Trust NHS, London. There she completed a Professional Doctorate in Social Care and Emotional Wellbeing.

In this episode we discuss supervision in social work and social care settings.

We hope you like our conversation.

Disclaimer

Previous Episode

The Secure Start Podcast Episode 2: John Whitwell

Welcome to the Secure Start Podcast. I am Colby Pearce, and joining me for this episode is a respected former leader in residential and therapeutic foster care in the UK. I say “former”, because he is now retired, and has been for the past ten years. Nevertheless, I could not pass up this opportunity to talk with him and anticipate that listeners will enjoy our conversation to.

Before I introduce my guest, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land I am meeting on, the Kaurna people, and the continuing connection they and other aboriginal people feel to land, waters, culture, and community. I would also like to pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging.

My guest this episode is John Whitwell . . .

John’s Bio

John was formerly a UKCP registered Psychotherapist and a full member of the British Psychotherapy Foundation (BPF).

John was also the Chair of Trustees of the Gloucestershire Counselling Service and Trustee of the Planned Environment Therapy Trust and the Mulberry Bush Organisation.

Between 1985 and 1999 John was the Principal of the Cotswold Community a pioneering therapeutic community for emotionally unintegrated boys.

Thereafter, between 1999 and 2014 John was the Managing Director of Integrated Services Programme (ISP), the first therapeutic foster care programme in the UK.

I am very much interested in John’s views from working across these different types of out of home care. I hope you will enjoy our conversation too.

John's Website: https://www.johnwhitwell.co.uk/

Disclaimer

Next Episode

Secure Start Podcast Episode 4: Catherine Knibbs

Join me for a highly engaging and thought provoking conversation with Catherine (Cath) Knibbs, as we discuss the scope of harms children and young people may experience when online, Cath's reaction to the Netflix series, Adolescence, and Cath's question to me without notice about how we are failing boys in contemporary western society and discourse. I hope you like it!

About Cath:

Cath is a Researcher, Psychotherapist, Author, Speaker, and Doctoral candidate looking at the real harm children suffer in a world of technology, which is advancing quicker than many adults can keep up with.
Cath has a background in Engineering in the Army, IT, and Computer Tech of over 25 years, and over a decade of working with children and adults directly around issues relating to the internet, from Bullying to Porn viewing, from cybercrime to cybersecurity and more.
Cath writes about issues such as the impact of tech on the developing child, the impact of cyber trauma and the issues of immersive technology on eyes, brains, and bodies.
Cath runs a company educating professionals about child safeguarding around tech and digital spaces, and she teaches therapists how to be 'safe AND secure' when using tech to ensure they protect their clients.

For more information about Cath visit her website.

Disclaimer