Ep. 13 | Working with Addiction in the Therapy Room

04/02/23 • 56 min

I am delighted to discuss working with addiction today, with my guest Keith Cassidy. Keith is the Clinical Manager of Smarmore Castle addiction treatment centre in Louth and is an associate lecturer with PCI College. We discuss what is at the core of addiction. We also explore the contradiction therapists often face where addiction is a common issue but can feel like something only specialist therapists/centres deal with. Keith talks us through some aspects of working with addiction in private practice, as well as discussing the residential setting. He also highlights the great sense of fulfilment which he gets from this work.

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Ep. 12 | Celebrating International Women’s Day 2023 – A Panel Discussion

I am delighted to be joined by a very special panel of guests to celebrate International Women’s Day, including Ejiro Ogbevoan, Black Therapists Ireland, Lisa Molloy CEO of the IACP, Gael Kilduff Head of Counselling and Psychotherapy with PCI College, and Jade Lawless Academic Director of PCI College. They are all women in leadership roles within the counselling and psychotherapy profession who have a range of experience and different perspectives to offer.
We have a wide-ranging discussion around the International Women’s Day theme of equity within the area of counselling and psychotherapy. This includes the significant changes within the profession in recent years as it moves from a volunteer to professional context. We examine how there are certain challenges which are particular to being a woman in this field, even though the majority of therapists in Ireland are women. We highlight the specific challenges which Black women and women of colour experience. We discuss the potential differences between working as a therapist and being a manager, and guests share some tips on how to navigate leadership roles. Connection and support are key themes throughout the conversation, along with the need to always remain open to our own biases. While discussing important topics, this is a very inspiring and energising conversation; I hope listeners are left with food for thought and are inspired to find those daily ways to make small changes wherever you are.

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Ep. 14 | Lost in Translation? Therapy in a Deaf World

Welcome to our PCI Graduate Investigates episode where we explore the 2022 Martin Kitterick Award winning thesis by Louise Clinton. Her thesis title is ‘Lost in Translation? Therapy in a Deaf World’. It is a fascinating and extremely relevant exploration of the experience of Deaf people in a majority hearing world, and specifically how this impacts their experience of therapy. We discuss the importance of recognising Deaf culture and that Deafness is a way of being, not a disability. We explore the nuance of communication across sign language and the impact of having interpreters present, if they are available.

This is a recording of a live webinar we held earlier this year, attended by students across PCI College. I, Margaret O Connor, BSc Programme leader, am delighted to host these events as we want to highlight the high-quality research being produced by our fourth year students. The panel for this discussion includes Colm Early, second year head and faculty lecturer, and Louise Brennan, PCI Clinical Manager and Certificate lecturer. Please see below for links to Louise’s thesis, the Irish Deaf Society and an image called ‘The Family Dog’ which we discuss.

Link to read Louise’s thesis - https://www.pcicollege.ie/page/news/764

Link to Irish Deaf Society - https://www.irishdeafsociety.ie/

Link to image ‘The Family Dog’ by Susan Dupor - http://deafcuture.blogspot.com/2015/07/7.html