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Department: Faculty Staff

Dr. Anne O’Connor

Lecturer

Anne started her studies in counselling and psychotherapy in Turning Point institute in 2009 with Kay Conroy and Mary Paula Walsh and their colleagues. Ever since, she has been involved in teaching and guiding others along their path towards becoming a psychotherapist. Anne has extensive experience in third-level education and clinical practice, as well as management and academic research and publishing. Her qualifications include BA, MA, MBA, PhD (all UCD) and MSc in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy (TPI/ DCU); and she is currently pursuing further studies with the London Institute of Psychosynthesis. Anne is an accredited psychotherapist with IAHIP and IACP and is registered with the ICP.

Dr Eve Watson

Lecturer

Eve is involved in psychoanalytic practice, training, education, and research. She is a co-director of a busy Dublin city centre practice, and has published over thirty essays on psychoanalysis, sexuality, film, culture, and literature. Her co-edited books are Clinical Encounters in Sexuality: Psychoanalytic Practice and Queer Theory (2017, Punctum), Critical Essays on the Drive: Lacanian Theory and Practice (Routledge, 2024), and another collection, Freud’s Principal Case Studies Revisited: Freudian-Lacanian Psychoanalysts Reconsider the Legacy (Routledge, 2025). She is the academic director of the Freud Lacan institute (FLi), and was the Editor of Lacunae, the International Journal for Lacanian Psychoanalysis from 2016-2024. She is a member of the Editorial Boards of Lacunae, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, and the European Journal of Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy. In 2022, she was the Erik Erikson Scholar-in-Residence at the Austen Riggs Centre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Current research interests include gender and identity, contemporary culture, phenomenology, and disciplinary intersections with psychotherapy.

Eloise Devaney

Lecturer & Skills Tutor/Group Facilitator  

Eloise holds a BA, an MSocSc (Social Work), an MSc. Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy, and is CORU registered (Social Work).

Eloise is a graduate of TPI and completed a three year post graduate Internship with Turning Point, before becoming a faculty member in 2022. In addition to her role as skills tutor and process facilitator, she provides training in The Polyvagal Theory.

Eloise has a private practice in Donegal, drawing on Psychosynthesis, The Polyvagal Theory, Attachment, Psychodynamics and Pain Reprocessing Therapy, to inform her integrated model of therapy. She has a special interest in Nervous System Informed care, shame & trauma and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and delivers seminars, workshops and bespoke programmes related to these themes. She is keenly driven towards educating & empowering individuals and groups to restore natural states of health, wellness and vitality and for those in recovery/management of FND and chronic illness/pain.

Eloise has 15 years’ experience as a social worker, working with individuals, families and children in the areas of mental health, child protection, forensics and palliative care. She has extensive experience in the areas of risk assessment and rehabilitation and was a member of the DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy) team in Sligo Mental Health Services. Eloise continues to value the transferability of her social work skills, knowledge and experience to her current professional endeavours.

Derek McDonnell

Skills Tutor/Group Facilitator 

Derek holds a B.Sc. in Counselling and Psychotherapy and an LL.M in Human Rights, along with qualifications in youth work and adult education. Derek’s post-graduate training includes somatic experiencing, family therapy, EMDR, leadership, coaching, polyvagal theory, Internal Family Systems, and organisational development.

Derek works as an organisational and personal change consultant specialising in team dynamics, strategy, training, relational (team & individual) coaching, and healing trauma. His purpose is to support staff to thrive by focusing on culture, leadership, and wellbeing.

With a portfolio career across multiple sectors, as a leader, collaborative innovator, trainer, and frontline worker, Derek has gained insight into how people show up in organisations and what gets in the way of the work.

Derek’s approach helps people tap into their innate wisdom, stay connected, and find the courage to address relational and organisational challenges they may have previously avoided.

Derek works as an integrative therapist with a body-focused approach, combining somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory, and systems theory to support meaningful change while navigating complex dynamics. Derek is currently pursuing a PhD in Organisational Change, exploring the impact of belonging and stereotype threat on leadership through action research.

Diane McDonald

Skills Tutor/Group Facilitator 

Diane holds a BA (Hons.) English and Philosophy, a Post Graduate Diploma Counselling (Marriage and Relationships), a Post Graduate Diploma Integrative Clinical Counselling and Psychotherapy (TPI/UCC), and an MSc Integrative Clinical Counselling and Psychotherapy (TPI/UCC). Diane is registered with the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP) and a fully accredited member of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP).

Diane has been a tutor with the Turning Point Institute since 2022 having previously completed a 3-year tutor internship. She has a private practice in Dublin working with couples and individuals. She also works as a therapist for the HSE Counselling in Primary Care Service in the Kildare/West Wicklow region.

Other work includes serving as a lay member since 2014 for the Mental Health Commission on mental health tribunals. More recently Diane qualified as a mediator to support her work for the Department of Health Cervical Check Restoration of Trust process.

Diane uses an integrative approach to psychotherapy, incorporating humanistic approaches such as person-centred and Gestalt therapy.

Her training at the Turning Point Institute culminated in research looking at psychotherapy for people with schizophrenia. In 2018 she presented this research at the SEPI (Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration) conference in New York.

Ailbhe O’Reilly

Skills Tutor/Group Facilitator

Ailbhe is a qualified psychotherapist with over 14 years of experience. She holds a higher diploma in integrative counselling and psychotherapy from Dublin City University and a diploma in integrative clinical psychotherapy from Turning Point Institute (TPI). Ailbhe completed an additional three years of skills and process tutor training at TPI. She is an accredited member of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP) and the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).

Since 2011, Ailbhe has worked across a variety of settings, in both private and volunteer sectors, including Arthritis Ireland, Living Life Counselling Centre, and Turning Point, where she serves as both a therapist and a skills and process tutor. She also operates a private practice.

Her therapeutic approach is rooted in humanistic, integrative, psychosynthesis, and attachment frameworks. She specialises in supporting individuals experiencing chronic illness and pain, trauma, and anxiety and depression, drawing on her professional expertise and personal experience of living with a chronic condition. This understanding enables her to foster a therapeutic and learning environment of empathy and compassion.

Ailbhe offers a warm, compassion guided approach. She is committed to supporting clients and students in their learning as they discover their own capacity for healing and growth.

 

 

Justine Driscoll

Skills Tutor/Group Facilitator 

Justine holds a B.A. from UCD, a Certificate in Counselling skills from NUI Maynooth, a Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy from the Dublin Counselling & Therapy Centre (2016) and an MSc Counselling & Psychotherapy from the University of Northampton (2021).

Justine’s therapeutic approach is Humanistic and Integrative. She has worked in private practice with individuals and couples in Dublin since qualifying in 2016.

She also works as a group therapist with students studying for the MSc at the Dublin Counselling and Therapy Centre.

She is resident counsellor at a community employment scheme in Dublin which provides education and training for women in the local community.

Justine also works with a bereavement service supporting suddenly bereaved parents and families of children 0 -18. Justine enjoys the variety of her work, encountering a broad spectrum of issues which she helps to support people with. She has a particular interest in perinatal mental health, maternal well-being and supporting women through some of the early and ongoing challenges of motherhood.

In a previous life, Justine trained and worked as an actor, director and drama teacher,
working in theatre and schools. She also facilitated drama workshops for people in recovery from addiction.

Virginia Kerr

Skills Tutor/Group Facilitator 

Virginia has enjoyed a successful career as an international classical singer over many years since gaining her teaching diploma from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She is professor of singing at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.  A keen interest in the workings of the psyche of musicians and performers led Virginia to pursue an MSc in psychotherapy at TPI. Following her graduation, she wrote the first in a series of monographs, published by TPI, entitled Stage Fright. Virginia specialises in working with performers who suffer from performance anxiety and lectures in performance psychology at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Virginia has been a member of the counselling team at ARC Cancer Care, working with patients and families dealing with the challenges of cancer diagnoses and experiencing bereavement and also has a private psychotherapy practice in Dublin.

Virginia has been a member of the faculty team at TPTI as a tutor since 2017 where she teaches skills and facilitates Group Process.

Stage Fright: The Value of Psychotherapy to Classical Singers Experiencing Performance Anxiety and Confidence Issues (Arlen House/ Syracuse University Press,2014) Virginia Kerr