I am regularly invited to give talks and keynote presentations, and to develop workshops and webinars. I include a selection of them here, many of which have led to the commissioning of work. I enjoy the opportunity to craft sessions that connect people to their experience of the theme or issues that I have been asked to speak about in ways that might surprise them and raise their curiosity about seen and unseen aspects of their work experience, and the relationship between work content and work roles.
Creativity and Crisis: Developing interventions to help Manage the Impact of Emotionally intense work.
The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland - Spring Conference, Galway, Ireland - 26+27 March 2026.
I was invited to be a Guest Speaker at this Conference and my presentation provided an insight into my experience of developing reflective practice groups for a range of healthcare staff in a variety of different contexts and to meet different needs. It used stories and case material to describe the use of creativity to design psychological interventions that are accessible, relevant and meaningful for clinicians working in mental health and address the question of how to sustain a career in psychiatry and survive strained and fraying systems in these troubled times.
How to Survive in Medicine: What I have learned from 30 years of Developing Psychological Interventions for Doctors.
European Rhinologic Society, Munich Technical University Hospital - The Valentin Series on Physician Well-Being Webinar - 19 March 2026.
An interactive session presenting concepts and models that inform the individual and group interventions I have developed to address distress, create space for reflection, and manage wellbeing in doctors.
Being a Doctor in 2026: The Pleasure and the Pain.
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland - Doctor Wellbeing Day, 13 March 2026.
An invitation to share my work at the second national physician wellbeing day in order to highlight the necessity of designing interventions to mitigate the cumulative impact of the emotional challenges of medical work in order to ensure that doctors sustain meaningful and rewarding careers without undue harm to their health and personal life.
The Human Impact of Healthcare Work.
Human Factors in Healthcare Conference, Oxford - October 2025 - Advancing Education, Leadership and Well-being .
This one-day conference was focussed on exploring the role of Human Factors in advancing education, leadership and well-being. I was invited to develop and facilitate a whole conference group reflection on the impact of troubling and distressing cases using pre-prepared stories developed with a panel of surgeons. This session provided a deep insight into the personal impact of the uncertainty that is part of all surgical careers and an opportunity to consider how to reconcile personal distress and vulnerability with professional authority.
Creativity and Crisis: Managing the Impact of Emotionally Intense Work.
Central Mental Hospital, Dublin - Teaching Programme - October 2025.
This was an invited talk where I was asked to share my experience of developing and running Reflective Practice Groups for Clinical Staff & Consultants working in mental health services and consider how to address systemic barriers to building in time for self care in mental health work.
Health in Organisations, Organization of Health ISPSO European Regional Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 29 March 2025
Ripples, Echoes, and Fractures: The impact of Covid 19 on Organizational Health
I enjoyed running this workshop on the Ongoing Invisible Impact of Covid based on a programme of support I have developed for health and social care staff.
Keeping the Patient in Mind in Turbulent Times: Courage and Creativity in Cancer Nursing.
NHS North Central London Cancer Alliance - 2025 NCL Celebrating Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist Conference - March 2025 in London.
I was asked to deliver the closing Keynote Speech at this conference where I shared insights from my experience of developing group interventions for clinicians working in oncology services alongside providing one to one support for clinicians who have become overwhelmed by the distress inherent in their work.
Prioritising Conversations around the emotional impact of being a doctor.
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Presidents Webinar Series 2023
I designed and ran a webinar showcasing the work I have developed for Human Factors programme at RCSI for the past 7 years which provides mid-career doctors with the opportunity to hear how experienced senior consultants have managed the impact of emotionally complex cases.
Using story to explore the impact of being a second victim: demonstration of a psychological intervention to manage the impact of traumatic cases
Great Britain and Ireland Society of Vascular Surgery Conference Dublin 2023
I was invited to work with four senior surgeons to develop this session which reflected on the emotional impact of being a vascular surgeon. The work was written up in a recent editorial of the Journal of Vascular Surgery and you can read it here.
The Grief we Carry.
Working with loss at a time of loss: the grief we are carrying from the COVID years.
NHS Education for Scotland Bereavement Annual Conference November 2023
An invited keynote presentation where I drew together my experience of supporting staff in palliative care and my work developing Covid recovery programmes to explain why staff working with death and dying are more burdened since the pandemic by the emotional labour required of them.
Creating space, clarity and containment to manage the impact of working in palliative care
The All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care 2022
I was invited to develop a one hour webinar describing how to design palliative care work to mitigate the impact of its emotional intensity. I drew on my recently published chapter in the Handbook of Palliative Care capturing the evidence on the relationship between work design and work content on staff wellbeing, effectiveness and burnout.
The Child I will Never Forget
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Annual Conference 2021
I was invited to develop a workshop in which a judge, social worker, clinical psychologist and policeman shared with a large audience of over 140 social care professionals the ongoing impact of working with a child who had had a formative influence on their understanding of the emotional impact of their work in child protection. I used narrative psychology techniques to develop the stories with each professional in advance of the conference and to design the session to illuminate the complexity of the work and illustrate the courage it requires.
Making Meaning with Clinicians, Managers and Leaders in the First Phase of the Covid 19 Pandemic:
Creating Space to keep thinking in a Crisis
University College Dublin
Academic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Occupational Stress and Burnout Conference 2021
I was invited to present the work I had been doing with a range of organisations supporting leaders and managers and developing bespoke reflective groups to mitigate burnout and promote leadership effectiveness throughout the Covid crisis.
The Child I will Never Forget
Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, St Lukes Week 2019
An invited masterclass showcasing the use of story to explore psychologically complex clinician experience.
Linking Organisational Storytelling to Clinical and Organisational realities : the person, the professional and the context
Irish Network of Medical Educators Conference Galway 2019
This invited presentation described the use of stories in healthcare to improve the resilience of clinicians and the systems they work in.
Levels of context, layers of meaning : a one day workshop for occupational medicine trainees
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland 2019
This one day workshop for occupational health medicine trainees used case material to explore the relationship between the professional, their client, the work system and emotional labour to help clinicians plan how best to sustain themselves emotionally throughout their career.
Paying Attention to Meaning: using narrative to understand the impact of caring for children and young people
Keynote at Mind Reading Conference 2019 Adolescence, Literature and Mental Health, St Anne’s College, Oxford
This keynote presentation explored the uses of story as a form of containment for staff working with adolescents and described the therapeutic potential of literature when working with young people to engage them and sustain the professionals working with them.
All Life is an Experiment: navigating therapeutic relationships in the context of serious illness
Medical Mediation Foundation and Green Templeton College, Oxford 2019
This one day workshop explored the experience of illness over time from the perspective of oncologists and patients (who were also doctors) using story to share the emotional impact of life changing consultations. Real time conversations between doctors and patients were facilitated to capture the essence of a therapeutic relationship at each stage in the progression of an illness (breaking bad news, treatment, relapse etc). Oncologists and their doctor/patients were able to ask each other about the their reciprocal impact at each stage of a consultation.
Keeping the child in mind while staying in role
Children in Hospital Ireland Annual Lecture.
Trinity College Dublin 2018
An invited presentation for the annual Children in Hospital lecture which was written up by the Irish Times.
Using Story to understand the experience of working in healthcare
The Power of Stories in Medicine Conference, Royal Society of Medicine 2018
An invited presentation exploring the therapeutic potential of narrative psychology techniques in medical settings.
Teamwork:
A source of Safety or a source of stress?
Royal College of Physicians, Glasgow 2018
An invited presentation exploring the role of the team in positive staff and patient experience.
Unfinished business in end of life work
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow Palliative Care Symposium 2017
An opportunity to speak about the complexity of working with patients with mental health needs at the end of their life, and consider the resulting emotional labour required of clinicians and how to manage it.
The Experience of Healthcare work, linking the person, the role and the system
A sustainable, compassionate workforce for Wales: One day conference 2017
An invitation to present occupational psychology theory to a conference of clinicians and commissioners developing a workforce improvement strategy for Wales.
Creating New Spaces and Facilitating New Conversations in Healthcare: developing psychology interventions to provide support and improve effectiveness
Feb 2016 – Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Charter Day
An opportunity to share my work at the Royal Free in my hometown of Dublin on RCSI Charter day led to an invitation to provide annual input to the Human Factors programme showcasing this work which has continued each year.
Linking Story to Clinical and Organisational Realities - Developing Accessible and Relevant Psychological Interventions for Doctors.
Facilitating the Rounds at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland's Stress & Wellbeing Days.
For the past eight years I have provided a half day workshop for the Human Factors programme. This includes teaching input and an interactive session where senior clinicians share stories of cases that have had a profound personal impact. The session provided a deep insight into the personal impact of the uncertainty that is part of all surgical careers and an opportunity to consider how to reconcile personal distress and vulnerability with professional authority in order to sustain oneself over time.
