Mental Health & Homelessness | PSI Autumn Winter Public Lecture Series 2024

This was held as a free public event, marking World Mental Health Day and World Homeless Day, on Thursday 10 October.

PSI President Dr Odhrán Mc Carthy was joined by Dr Éilish Burke, Senior Clinical Psychologist, and Dr Eileen Corroon Sweeney, Consultant General Adult and Old Age Psychiatrist to discuss the impact of homelessness and housing insecurity on mental health.

Speaker Biographies

Dr Éilish Burke is a Senior Clinical Psychologist working with the Galway Simon Community. Before taking on this role she worked in various roles in the UK including for the Homeless Mental Health Team in Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Her clinical and research interests are in trauma and psychologically-informed practice, inclusion health, complex trauma, reducing mental health-related stigma and peer support.

Dr Eileen Corroon Sweeney is a Consultant General Adult and Old Age Psychiatrist and the Clinical Lead for the Inclusion Mental Health Team in Dublin South City. She is a Clinical Senior Lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin, and is interested in the contribution of early-life trauma to mental illness and social exclusion.

Dr Odhrán Mc Carthy is the current PSI President and is also the chairperson of the PSI Special Interest Group in Addressing Climate and Environmental Emergencies. Odhrán is a retired Principal Clinical Psychologist (Specialist), having studied at the University of Massachusetts, University College Dublin, and more recently completed his PhD at Trinity College Dublin. He worked within the Irish health service for over thirty-two years and his last position was with the HSE adult mental health services of Dublin North County. Odhrán was a frequent clinical supervisor, occasional lecturer (adjunct associated professor (TCD) and adjunct professor (UCD)), and was on the course advisory committee for the TCD Diploma & Masters in Cognitive Therapy programme. Odhrán developed a special interest in social anxiety early in his career and initiated his first social anxiety treatment group in 1999; the programme has grown and developed steadily ever since. In 2014, Odhrán established Social Anxiety Ireland (SAI) as an independent non-profit company and by 2016 had SAI registered with the Charities Regulatory Authority. He currently acts as executive director for the SAI board.