Psychotherapy Training and Accreditation
Susan has a Higher Diploma and an MA in counselling and Psychotherapy from Dublin Business School (DBS). She also holds a Bachelor of Social Science from UCC and a Higher Diploma in Adult and Community Education from Maynooth University. She is a Certified Associate member of IAHIP.
Counselling and Psychotherapeutic Approach
Susan’s training is in humanistic and integrative psychotherapy. She believes that every individual is unique and therefore she uses a variety of modalities such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Person-Centred Approach, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) Gestalt and Psychoanalysis to help clients in their journey of self-awareness. She hopes to provide each client with a warm, safe, and compassionate space in which to identify and challenge problematic behaviours, beliefs, feelings, and relationship issues.
Counselling Experiences and Areas of Interest
Susan began her career as a T.E.F.L teacher and spent many years abroad teaching English in businesses and schools. This experience enriched her understanding of displacement, isolation, and loneliness because of cultural and language differences. It also deepened her awareness of the similarities and struggles we all face as humans.
Before retraining as a Psychotherapist Susan spent many years working in community education for the CDETB in a variety of different settings including Spirasi, The Bridge Project, the National Office for Victims of Institutional Abuse (NOVA), Chrysalis, FOCUS Ireland, and Cabra Community School. Her roles involved teaching, training, consulting on boards in the private and public sector and later managing community education projects.
She worked with clients who had experienced many challenges including trauma, grief, drug addiction, domestic abuse, mental and physical health issues. She facilitated many people to return to education and use it as a medium for empowerment and positive change. The experience she gained from working in this area reinforced her strong interest and passion for working with people who, for a variety of reasons, find themselves struggling and in need of psychological support.
Susan is particularly interested in the transition into parenthood and the challenges that parents face adjusting to this new stage of life. She has experience working with miscarriage, infertility, grief, isolation, low self-esteem, and identity loss. In addition to this, she is interested in exploring the challenges faced by people through the education system and how this has impacted their lives.
