Addie McDonald
Administrator
Addie has worked in an administrative role in the not-for-profit sector over the last 35 years, working as a team member in organisations supporting youth and community development in the Dublin Diocese (Crosscare).
Moving on after fourteen years to take up an administrative role in the youth justice area working with The Probation and Welfare Service (The Bridge Project) for a number of years, before joining Youngballymun.
Cathy Kiernan
Social and Emotional Wellbeing Coordinator
Cathy is a programme co-ordinator in Youngballymun, the key focus of which is the social and emotional wellbeing of families in Ballymun. Cathy has a Bsc in Education and Training and incorporates CPD in Infant Mental Health to her work. Cathy is an accredited Incredible Years Parent Programme leader and a Peer Coach in training. Cathy has worked in the community for fifteen years as a trainer across a wide range of community based training initiatives. These initiatives range from First Step Courses encouraging women to access training and support, to the NUIM/CAFTA Certificate in Community Development & Leadership.
In a voluntary capacity Cathy has been a member of several executive committees including the Axis Arts & Community Resource Centre, SOLAS Resource Centre, Cumann Baire Setanta GAA club and B.E.S.T LTD.
Fiona Gallagher
Manager
Fiona joined Youngballymun in 2017. She has 30 years experience of the community and voluntary sector in Ireland having worked with a wide range of organisations and understanding the issues and challenges that they manage.
During her career, Fiona worked as a youth and community worker, director of a support agency, programme coordinator, community development consultant and groups support manager with a variety of organisations. She has supported individuals and groups and has advocated on their behalf at both a local and national level. Fiona holds a BA and a postgraduate Diploma in Adult and Community Education.
As Manager of Youngballymun, Fiona works closely alongside the Board of Management and staff to deliver the strategic objectives of the organisation.
Debbie Scales
Deputy Manager
Debbie started as Deputy Manager in Youngballymun in September 2023. She has over 25 years’ experience in the community sector, family support and youth and infant mental health. She also works as a facilitator in a number of programmes including the Circle of Security® Parenting™ programme and the Solihull Approach Foundation programme. She has worked as an independent consultant co-authoring reports in relation to Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health as well as co-authoring programme evaluations. Debbie holds a Degree in Social Science and post graduate diploma in Youth and Community Work.
As Deputy Manager of Youngballymun, Debbie works closely alongside the Manager, Board of Management and staff to deliver the strategic objectives of the organisation
Hazel Murphy
Infant and Early Years Mental Health Coordinator
Hazel has been working on Youngballymun’s Infant and Early Years Mental Health team since 2010. Her current role involves delivering tailored interventions in Infant and Early Years Mental Health approaches to parents and carers, through individualised therapeutic home-visiting. Supports are also offered to parents and carers through Circle of Security® Parenting™, an approach based on decades of research about how secure parent-child relationships can be supported and strengthened. Hazel supports capacity building of practitioners through delivering youngballymun’s two day Infant and Early Years Mental Health Master Class, mentoring practitioners in delivering Circle of Security and provides monthly reflective consultation to early years practitioners.
Hazel is the current coordinator of the Ballymun Infant and Early Years Mental Health Network, a workforce capacity building initiative. Hazel has worked in the area of community development for over 15 years and is currently training as a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.
Justyne McDonagh
Community and Family Literacy Development Worker
Justyne has been working for Youngballymun since October 2019. She comes with a vast experience in Early Childhood Education and Child Development, previously managing Early Years Centres. Justyne completed her M.A in Equality Studies, which is something she is incredibly passionate about and it informs all of her work.
Justyne is trained in Adult and Further Education and now works alongside the Family & Community Literacy Coordinator to deliver Family Literacy Programmes which aim to increase family engagement in children’s language & literacy development. Justyne also works within our Infant Mental Health strand to co-deliver ‘Talk and Play Every Day’ which focusses on the relationship between parents and their child.
Julie Ann Lyons
Infant and Early Years Mental Health Coordinator
Julie-Ann is a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, a Professionally Qualified Social Worker, a Marte Meo therapist and a clinical supervisor. She has been working in Youngballymun as an Infant Mental Health (IMH) Coordinator since September 2018. Her role involves providing Infant Mental Health support to parents and carers through home visiting. Julie-Ann also runs the Circle of Security® Parenting™ Programme and supports capacity building of practitioners through delivering
Youngballymun’s two-day IMH Master Class and taster IMH workshops. She is also involved in creating awareness of ACEs and exploring strategies to enable communities to become trauma informed.
Julie-Ann is also the Infant Observation Module Co-ordinator for the Msc. in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Trinity College Dublin. She tutors on the Social Work Masters course in Trinity and lectures for both Trinity and UCD.
Lána McCarthy
Family and Community Language and Literacy Coordinator
Lana has worked in adult literacy for over 19 years. She joined Youngballymun in 2010 as the Family and Community Literacy Coordinator. Her work centres on increasing the engagement of families in activities that focus on children’s language and literacy development. She has developed a series of family literacy programmes and delivers them in Ballymun in partnership with HSCL Teachers, Speech and Language Therapists and Youth and Community workers. She also co-ordinates the Oral Language Forum – an inter-disciplinary forum for educators, speech and language therapists and researchers to share best practice in relation to oral language development.
Lána completed a M.A. by research in 2017and is currently studying for a PhD in Trinity College Dublin with Funding from the Irish Research Council Employment Based Postgraduate Scholarship 2018.
Liz McCarthy
Social and Emotional Wellbeing Coordinator
Liz has worked with Youngballymun since 2010 having previously worked in Community Development, Adult Education, and Parent Programmes, with over 20 years’ experience in these areas both professionally as well as in a voluntary capacity.
Liz has a B.A. in Humanities and is an accredited Incredible Years Parent Group Leader in a range of programmes, and is also in the process of training as an Incredible Years Peer Coach.
Her current role involves supporting the social and emotional development of children in Ballymun through facilitating and delivering the Incredible Years suite of programmes in local schools, which involves parents, teachers and children, working in collaboration with Home School Community Liaison Teachers, Tusla Staff and other community partners.
Laura Kearney
Infant and Early Years Mental Health Coordinator
Laura is a Professionally Qualified Social Worker and Marte Meo Therapist. She has over 19 years of experiences working therapeutically with parents and young children in their homes and in their community.
Laura joined the Young Ballymun team in 2023 as an Infant Mental Health Coordinator. In this role Laura delivers tailor made interventions based on Infant Mental Health attachment based approaches to caregivers, babies and young children in Ballymun. Laura is certified in Newborn Observation, Baby Massage and is a Licensed practitioner for Circle of Security® Parenting™. She offers support to families through home visiting and group work.
Laura’s role involves capacity building of practitioners through the delivery of Infant Mental Health workshops and Masterclasses. Laura participants and contributes to a monthly Infant Mental Health learning network and reflective practice is a key aspect of her work. Within this role Laura focuses on supporting awareness of ACES and Trauma Informed Care in the community.
Sharon Byrne
Infant and Early Years Mental Health Coordinator
Sharon has been working in Youngballymun since September 2023. She is a licensed practitioner for Circle of Security® Parenting™ and Circle of Security® Classroom™. In her role as Infant Mental Health Coordinator she works with Early Childhood Education and Care settings in Ballymun to promote the healthy social and emotional development of the young children in their care. Sharon is interested in the area of trauma-informed practice and the key role of early years educators and other professionals in supporting the wellbeing of children and their families. Sharon has worked in Early Childhood Care and Education for the past thirty years, managing Early Years settings, mentoring, lecturing and most recently leading a national Barnardos’ project that supported professionals working across the Early Years sector. Sharon holds a BA in Early Childhood Education, a MA in Child, Family & Community Studies and a Post Grad Diploma in Trauma Studies.
Suzanne Garry
Infant and Early Years Mental Mental Health Coordinator
Suzanne is a Group Psychotherapist and a Professionally Qualified Social Worker. Suzanne joined Youngballymun in February 2019. In her role as Infant Mental Health Co-ordinator, she delivers tailored interventions in Infant Mental Health (IMH) approaches to parents and carers through individualised home-visiting service and groupwork interventions. She is a Licensed practitioner for Circle of Security® Parenting™ and leads out on Talk and Play Everyday, a parent and toddler group designed by Youngballymun staff to support early Parent/toddler relationships in groups.
Suzanne supports capacity building of practitioners through delivering Youngballymun’s IMH Masterclass and offering Reflective supervision to IMH Co-ordinators across the ABC community. Suzanne participates and contributes to the IMH Learning network on a monthly basis. She is also involved in creating and supporting ongoing awareness of ACE’s across agencies in Ballymun and the greater North Dublin city area.