Domain 4: List of Contributors
Dr Denise Lyons is a social care worker who lecturers on both Social Care and Creative Skills modules in the Institute of Technology Carlow. She is also a qualified art therapist. Denise served as secretary for Irish Association of Social Care Educators (IASCE) for five years, and was one of the founding members of Social Care Ireland Executive, serving as president from 2012 until 2014. Denise’s publications include Creative Studies for the Caring Professions (2010) and Social Care: Learning from Practice (2014), which she co-edited with Noel Howard. Denise’s PhD, which she completed in 2018, explored the experiences of social care workers in different settings.
Dr Teresa Brown is a social care worker currently lecturing on Social Care degree and masters’ programmes in the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest TUS. Teresa has extensive experience as a social care worker in Northern Ireland, Ireland and Romania. She has practised in the areas of residential care, secure care and child protection/family support. Teresa is currently a board member of Social Care Ireland and an active member of the Irish Association of Social Care Educators (IASCE). Her PhD, completed in 2016, focused on social care workers’ experiences of relationship-based practice.
Caroline Coyle is an artist, poet and social care lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon Midlands Midwest, and a PhD candidate at the Women, Ageing and Media (WAM) Research Centre, University of Gloucestershire, UK. Her study utilises autoethnographic and poetic inquiry to explore older women’s identity through their participation in rituals at the Celtic Festivals of the Seasons at Uisneach, County Westmeath. In 2021, she co-founded Global Perspectives in Social Care/Child and Youth Care, which held its inaugural (virtual) symposium that June under the theme of ‘Reimagining the Relationality of Social Care/CYC Practice in the Pandemic through the Arts, Nature, Spirituality, Education and Other (ANSEO)’.
Delores Crerar is the Co-ordinator of Athlone Family Resource Centre. Delores has extensive experience as a social care worker in the family support and community development sector. Delores is an active member of Creativity and Innovation in Social Care Network, the Midland ACEs Hub and the Family Resource Centre Midlands Regional Forum. She has an MA in Family Support Studies and an advanced diploma in Expressive Arts Therapy. Her research interests include inter- agency collaboration in the community development and social care sectors; the importance of supervision; the position and role of women in society; and effective relationship-based practice when working with vulnerable population groups.
Francis Gahan qualified as a social care worker with a BA (Hons) in 2013. He has practice experience in disability service provision and residential childcare. He holds an MSc in Applied Social Research from Trinity College Dublin and is currently undertaking PhD research at Technological University Dublin. He also continues to work on the Applied Social Studies (Professional Social Care) programme at Carlow College, St Patrick’s, where he attained his undergraduate degree.
Ado McKenna is a frontline social care professional and has worked for many years with young people and adults in residential care, detention services, mental health services and post-adoption services. He currently works on the homeless services management team of a large Dublin-based charity. He is a member of the Social Care Workers Registration Board, the collaborative forum for former residents of mother and baby homes and related institutions, Social Care Ireland, Social Justice Ireland. He is a Servant Leader trained professional. He has qualifications in social care management, applied social care, psychology, counselling and disability studies.
Cathy Murphy is a social care worker who began her career with Beam Services Carlow. She left Beam Services to work in Delta Centre for four years before returning to Beam Services as a social care worker. She has worked on the national New Directions committee. She is currently studying Management and Leadership in the University of Limerick.
Imelda Rea divides her work in Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (formally AIT) between lecturing in Social Care degree programmes and working as a community connector with the College Connect project, connecting with people who experience multiple marginalisation, supporting them on their journey into higher education, and beyond, as a student support worker. Imelda has worked in residential care, youth training initiatives and is a volunteer in community radio. She has an MA in Child and Youth Care and degrees in both Social Studies and Community Development.
