Research and Information Mentors

Research Interests  

• Reflective practice and the development of this within social work and social care fields.
• How to alleviate stress and the impact of trauma and vicarious trauma for child protection social workers.
• To support and empower staff and enhance retention, particularly in social work.
• Mentoring and supporting staff to conduct research relevant to their caseloads/teams.

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

I hope to assist staff to explore, identify and undertake practice based research.

Research Interests  

• Profiling of children in care
• Development & evaluation of programmes to improve the outcomes of children in care
• Development of clinical audit tools for social work
• Development of standardised operating procedures for social work practices
• Development of standardised reporting templates, data management systems and practice instruments
• Inter-agency research
• Consultation on research and audit design with staff group
• Educational needs & outcomes of children in care

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

With the recent inception of Tusla, a considerable opportunity exists to develop and build a research culture that will hopefully, in time, become inherent and valued within the Agency, not only amongst the management but also amongst frontline staff.

For over 10 years, I have worked to promote and facilitate research, continuous quality improvement and evidence based decision making across Alternative Care, Child Protection & Welfare and Family & Community Support Services in the Mid-West Area. The Research & Information Mentor programme will provide a unique and important structure and focus to develop and build further the research culture within the organisation and for real improvements in service delivery and outcomes for children in care to be realised. In addition, the programme will support the further development of the existing research capacity of multi-disciplinary staff working in the Mid-West Area, facilitate research utilisation and promote a shift towards a more evidence based and informed practice.

Research Interests  

• Children’s rights
• Children’s rights and the constitution
• Resilience in young people
• Aftercare
• Young people in care and education
• Young people in care and self harm
• Family support/early intervention

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

During this time I want to improve my own ability to source relevant and well researched information and disseminate data in an efficient manner and assist and empower others to learn this skill.  I also want to learn more up to date trusted online research sites. 

I also hope to be make use of this position to empower residential care staff to source relevant research and information and adapt this to their current skills to care for the young people in our services.  I hope to empower staff to feel confident at sourcing information to provide evidence based care for the young people we care for.  I am conscious that the majority of our teams have been out of college for a considerable length of time and I hope that going forward this role will help in empowering our staff to re-engage with these skills.

Research Interests  

• Child protection and welfare issues,
• policy development,
• policy implementation,
• organisational governance,
• training development and evaluation,
• evidence informed practice,
• human resource management,
• evidence informed decision making.

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

I am a strong believer in the importance of evidence informed practice. In my 17 years in post working with many internal and external departments and agencies I have seen the importance of linking decision making to an understanding of the wider context and an awareness of what has come before. I enjoy teasing out and understanding problems and helping to develop solutions. I have been involved in research, education and training and find satisfaction in being able to share learning with others.

Research Interests  

Systems Research/Development

Organisational Development, Service Capacity to Meet the Needs of Service Users, Change, Needs Analysis, Profiling, Impact of Service Change/Development/Management Systems on Service Users, Data Systems, Structural Analysis, Benefits of Multi-Stakeholder Involvement for the Organisation and the Service User, Agency Narrative/Dialogue Internal and External, Communicating Intent, Envisioning, Planning, Evaluating etc.

Social Research Interest

The Lifeworld of the Service User, particularly how we communicate with each other; how the service user derives meaning from this engagement; and the kind of impact this might have on decisions and behaviour in trying to live in this world.

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

• Be a support for staff in using research and information in the everyday. 
• Be a support for staff in using research and information in the everyday
• Have the opportunity to feed into Research/Development re. the organisation’s capacity to deliver a meaningful service to Children and Families.
• Learn more myself about the impact of our services on users.

Research Interests  

Broad interest in social research generally. More specific research interests include: Qualitative and Participatory research methodologies; Practitioner Research; Interagency working practices; Social Care, Child Protection and Family Support; Early Years; Child and parental participation in decision making and policy development.

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

My background is in Social Care and I worked as a Social Care Leader in a Social Work team in Galway until 2015. Currently I am working as a Researcher for Tusla, attached to Galway and Roscommon CYPSCs and have completed several evaluation reports and research studies in my current role. I have a Masters in Family Support Studies from NUIGalway and am also a PhD student in NUIG.

I hope that my experience as a practitioner and also as a researcher will be useful in this role.

I have a range of research skills and I hope I will be an accessible and helpful resource to my Tusla colleagues in Galway and Roscommon. Specifically I would like to be a source of support and advice to Tusla staff who are hoping to develop, plan and conduct their own research activities. 

Research Interests  

• Attachment
• Trauma
• Psychology
• Child behaviour
• Parenting

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

As a research and information mentor for Tusla I hope to encourage the teams I work with to ask research based questions in order to inform their practice. I would like to think that I will play a part in helping develop a culture of research based practice across the counties of Cavan and Monaghan, leading staff to become more informed and reflective within their own practice. I would see myself being responsible for helping with the dissemination of information within Tusla, including supporting staff to access the range of free resources that are currently available to all Tusla staff.

Research Interests  

• Children Missing Education
• Alternative Educational possibilities for students
• Educational Provision and Residential Care
• Alternatives to Home Tuition

On a personal level, I have a keen interest in research on training in individual and team sports, specifically on the mental components relating to each. 

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

Research is an area I believe Tusla is fully committed to.  From a practice perspective, there is a deficit in current research undertaken and how that is made relevant and applicable for practitioners within Tusla.  As Tusla starts to embrace a culture of research and seeks to embed this culture into the organisation, I feel it is an exciting time to be at the forefront of research in the agency.  Research can influence practice, and acting as a research mentor is an opportunity to be at the cutting edge of practice development.   

It is my aim as a research mentor to assist and inspire individuals and groups within the organisation to undertake research.  Research activity should be at the forefront of the organisation in order to develop more coherent and applicable recommendations that can be ‘brought to life’ by daily practitioners within the organisation.  It is my core aim to support individuals in this area, and also to embed a culture of research in the organisation. 

Research Interests  

• Risk factors in offending behaviour
• Lone parents and early school leaving
• Gender roles in education                                                                       -
• Transition points in education
• Special needs in education

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

In my role as mentor it is my overall goal to support and empower colleagues  to  be  curious  and explore areas of  research interest.

I hope to  have a comprehensive understanding of a range of research methodologies in order to enable colleagues to develop their own research questions. I also hope be more equipped in order to assist colleagues with the necessary skills and knowledge to engage in critical thinking and analysis.

Research Interests  

I am interested in all aspects of research especially as it relates to working with children and their families. I am really interested in the rights and hearing the voice of the child in all aspects of our work. I am really delighted that more so than ever this is actually happening in 2018 especially with the “ Signs of Safety “ approach to working with the children and the families.

For years, I have held a strong interest in the health and wellbeing of the children and their families. Having worked in child protection field for many years, I feel it is so important that practice and how we function as practitioners must reflect best practice. Having recently gained my LLB (Irish) Law), I am really interested in how the courts are embracing the rights of children and their families.

Another part of me is very interested in supporting staff in their roles. I feel it is so important. Education and research is the way forward. Having trained in the area of management/ leadership/coaching I really enjoy supporting staff in their roles. It will be great to be able to compile various documents for example pertaining to “team working”, as I have done this month.   

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

The key aspect of my role as a Research & Information Mentor is to support staff in their roles and to promote the importance of the “Tusla: Child and Family Agency: Research Strategy (2014). I have already began the journey and I can see the benefit of having the time to really focus and use my research skills which I feel have not really been used fully. I know that I can and do promote training but I now need to promote the importance of research.

Over the years, I had really not considered how much work I was putting into research and the development of courses. It will be good to be able to document this, now. I actually put a lot of work into getting the best research and even contacting the person who created the work.  I will always try to help staff to the best of my ability. It is great to have the backing of Marian, Angela, Bernard and indeed Danny who saw I love research and finding new information.

Research Interests  

Qualitative Research; Participatory Action Research;  Lived Experience of Children, Young People & Parents; Evidence informed Prevention & Early Intervention Programmes; Perinatal, Child & Youth Mental Health; Area based Interagency Collaborations; Public Patient Initiatives; 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (rare genetic disorder)

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

Overall I hope to support Tusla to become a ‘research active’ organisation to support evidence informed work in the Child and Family Agency.

Specifically I will offer ‘Research Ignite!’ workshops from May –July 2018 in the Dublin South, South East and Wicklow Area with the aim of supporting Tusla colleagues to access the wealth of research resources now freely available to staff via the Tusla online hub including research databases, journal search engines and the Barnardos Library.

In keeping with an ‘action research’ orientation, I will invite Tusla staff at these workshops to identify what research skills, supports and topics may be of value to their work, and future ‘Research Ignite!’ events will seek to address these.

I also hope that it may be possible to create a ‘Research Learning Community’ in Dublin South, South East & Wicklow where research active staff can share their research questions, methodologies and findings with Tusla and interagency colleagues to encourage reflective professional practise and to inform local and national policy.

This knowledge exchange community may include linking with the research departments of academic, statutory, community and voluntary agencies in the region whose research can inform or benefit from future collaboration with Tusla staff and service users.

Research Interests  

• Outcomes for children in care,
• Young people’s experiences of the care system
• Adoption of children in care
• Childhood trauma and impact on mental health
• Supports for young people in aftercare with complex needs
• Ethnicity and children in care

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

I would like to share the skills and experience which I have developed in my studies in the areas of social work research, to enable colleagues to develop an interest in research and to create a culture of research empowerment within the organisation. I hope to develop practitioners’ confidence in using the various research tools and resources available to them in Tusla in informing their practice and in evidencing their decision-making.

I am interested in promoting good quality research and sharing research knowledge and information with colleagues. I would like to champion research within the Agency and promote a culture of research and of evidence-informed decision-making. 

Research Interests  

1. Decision making in Child Protection Case Conferences.
2. Parents Participation at CPCs
3. Engagement with reluctant parents .
4. Local outcomes for children post CPC
5. Working with Neglect Cases.
6. Working with  difficult to engage older children  and teenagers.

 What do I hope to achieve as a Research & Information Mentor:

I see my primary role as being a resource and a support to SW staff , Social Care Staff and Family Support Practitioners who are interested, have the drive , enthusiasm and time to undertake  research projects that have a usefulness and applicability to their local team and their own professional development .

My aspiration is that in my current role, that I can support colleagues to develop the develop skill and confidence in this applied research that is relevant to their role and the team they are part off.

I would like to think that I am approachable and generally accessible .My plan is when I have got sign off from Area Manager, is to  advise colleagues of my contact time by telephone or by having a  meeting, for colleagues who are contemplating conducting a piece of research. If you are still  thinking about a project or have an idea for research , I am more than happy to be used by you  as a ‘sounding board’ .

I have listed a few areas that I have a personal interest in above , but I don’t want  the list to influence in anyway the topics that colleagues might be interested in and want to carry out research