I have worked in the areas of Intellectual Disability, Addiction Counselling, Lecturing/Training, and Private Practice for over 30 years, specialising in a Pragmatic, Individualised, Humanistic approach to CBT, informed by Evolutionary Theory.
I’ve worked extensively with various behavioural addictions and anxiety disorders at different stages in my career, and I now primarily focus my work on understanding how therapists can best address the specific therapeutic needs of late-discovery autistic adults (see autisminformedtherapy.com). I'm autistic myself, having made the discovery in 2012.
Being pluralistically & pragmatically minded, my work is influenced by a variety of evidence-based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Humanistic Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, Schema Therapy, and Enactivist/Ecological approaches.
Being autistic and philosophically minded, I am a lifelong learner, with a special focus on the question "What is it to be human?" Philosophically I would see myself as a Pragmatist and an Interdisciplinary Pluralist, and constantly inform my work from multiple perspectives including Psychology, Cognitive Science, Evolutionary Theory, Pragmatist Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Psychology, Philosophy of Psychiatry, Buddhism, Twelve-Step Approaches, Social Constructionism, Feminism, Anthropology, Linguistics, Literature, and Intellectual History.
Click here to see some of my favourite books.
I'm an accredited member of the Irish Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, and of Addiction Counsellors of Ireland, and have served as Vice-Chair of both organisations. From 2004 to 2016 I held the position of College President at PCI College (www.pcicollege.ie), and was Programme Leader of the Middlesex University-awarded BSc in Counselling & Psychotherapy and MSc Addiction Counselling & Psychotherapy. I served as Chair of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity (www.atsac.co.uk), and was a co-founder of Dual Diagnosis Ireland (www.dualdiagnosis.ie). In 2010 I was awarded the IACP Carl Berkeley Memorial Award for contributions to the field of Counselling & Psychotherapy in Ireland.
Podcast episodes and short videos of me and Vauna Beauvais on the Vanguard Neurodiversity Training YouTube page.
I talk about CBT on this Insight Matters podcast.
YouTube video interview with Evaleen Whelton of AUsome Training.
Polar Bear Project podcast episode on Low Self-Esteem.
Other thoughts can be found on my blogs Autistically Minded, Integrative CBT and Psychotherapeutic Naturalism.
