This conference brings our community together at a pivotal moment to explore the future of psychotherapy in a changing regulatory landscape (CORU). It offers space to reflect on an important question: how do we protect the public while safeguarding the core values, depth and identity of our profession?
This fully in-person event will bring us together to reflect on these issues, generate hope, and work toward a shared vision for the future. It will be a day of stimulating ideas, helping us to look beyond compliance toward a more confident and assertive profession.
Join colleagues from across the profession to reflect, connect and contribute to shaping its future.
The programme includes a keynote address by Tom Warnecke (European Association of Psychotherapy), followed by three panels exploring:
To encourage engagement, participants will be seated at round tables in an interactive format.
8 CPD points awarded.
We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a stimulating and forwardlooking day.
The Board of The ICP and Rúaidhrí O’Connor, CEO, ICP.
Saturday 26th September 2026 — subject to change
8:30am |
Registration Opens |
9:20am | Welcome & Housekeeping Rúaidhrí O'Connor (CEO, ICP) & Belinda Moller (Chair, ICP) |
9:30am |
Keynote Address Tom Warnecke (General Secretary, European Association for Psychotherapy – EAP), followed by a conversation with John O'Connor (IFPP) |
10:45am |
Coffee & Tea Break |
11:15am |
Panel One: Core Values in Training and Practice in a New Regulatory World Chair: Eve Watson (APPI) |
1:00pm |
Lunch |
2:15pm |
Panel Two: The Future of Psychotherapy in the Public Health and Community Sectors Chair: Noreen Giffney (IFPP) |
3:30pm |
Comfort / Movement Break |
3:45pm |
Panel Three: Visions for the Future – The Role and Contribution of Our Professional Organisations Chair: Belinda Moller (IGAS) | Lead Speaker: Rúaidhrí O'Connor (CEO, ICP) |
5:30pm |
Social Gathering hosted by ICP 5:30pm – 7:00pm |
Please note: Details of this programme are subject to change. A photographer will be present during the event.
Rúaidhrí O’Connor is the CEO of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP). Rúaidhrí was previously CEO of The Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP), for 17 years, during which time CORU opened its register of physiotherapists. Rúaidhrí has a wealth of experience in advocating and negotiating with the Department of Health, the HSE and CORU. Rúaidhrí spent over three years as a management consultant specialising in strategic and business planning for health and voluntary organisations. Prior to this Rúaidhrí spent 12 years in senior management roles with Enable Ireland as Regional Director of Services and National Development Manager. He was also a Superintendent Community Welfare Officer and Community Welfare Officer with the Eastern Health Board for 15 years. Rúaidhrí holds an M.A. in Public Management and a B.Sc. in Public Administration.
Dr Belinda Moller is a Group Analyst in private practice in Dublin city centre. She has a varied workload that includes a group analytic psychotherapy practice, and supervision for clinicians, medics, senior social workers as well as providing role consultation to a wide a range of professionals from the public sector. Since 2015, Belinda has been involved in developing The Balint Group model for a number of professions – medical, education and legal – in Ireland. Recently she was a member of the research team with Maynooth University that studied the benefits of Balint Group participation for secondary school principals. Belinda has a PhD in Strategy from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) (2008). She is an accredited leader with The Balint Society, UK, a member of The International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations (ISPSO), and The Organisation for Promoting Understanding of Society (OPUS).
Tom Warnecke (PgDip, ECP) joined the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP) Governing Board in 2010 was elected as EAP General Secretary in 2023. He maintains a supervision practice in London, but also worked in statutory mental health services, psychotherapy and supervision diploma education, and developed a relational-somatic approach to borderline trauma. His work is grounded in psychophysiological and psychodynamic perspectives, and his publications include book chapters, journal articles and the book ‘The Psyche in the Modern World – Psychotherapy and Society’ (Karnac 2015).
Dr John O’Connor is a Board member of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP). Course Director of the MPhil in Psychoanalytic Studies, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). By training is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and clinical psychologist and he has worked in a wide variety of public services as well as privately. He is both a clinical and academic supervisor, and with particular research interests in processes of training, the psychodynamics of commonly diagnosed states, the intersection between individual and cultural pressures, and the development of contexts for the handling of suffering. He has published widely and is dedicated to the bridging between psychoanalytic and adjacent and wider communities.
Eve Watson (PhD) is a psychoanalyst, lecturer, and writer. She is a co-director of a busy Dublin city centre practice, and has published numerous essays on psychoanalysis, sexuality, film, culture, and literature. Her co-edited books are Freud’s Principal Case Studies Revisited: Freudian-Lacanian Psychoanalysts Reconsider the Legacy (2025, Routledge), Critical Essays on the Drive: Lacanian Theory and Practice (2024, Routledge), Clinical Encounters in Sexuality: Psychoanalytic Practice and Queer Theory (2017, Punctum), and a forthcoming collection on James Joyce’s writing in 2026. She is the academic director of the Freud Lacan institute (FLi). In 2022, she was the Erik Erikson Scholar-in-Residence at the Austen Riggs Centre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In Fall 2025, she was the Burns Scholar in Irish Studies at Boston College.
Bríd Maguire is a practicing psychotherapist and supervisor in Dublin City Centre. She is accredited with Irish Association of Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP) and a member of the ICP. Following many years working with young people in various settings, she qualified in 1998. Being a psychotherapist has taken her from working in a GP surgery, to working in an EU funded programme with secondary school students (pathways to education) and to working as a psychotherapy trainer with Institute of Creative Counselling and Psychotherapy (ICCP). Over the past number of years, she works with individuals based in the Elmwood Therapy Centre. As with most psychotherapists, meeting her own vulnerability brought her into being a client which inspired her to wish to train professionally.
Professor Valerie O’Brien, Programme Director of the Systemic Psychotherapy programme in the School of Medicine at University College Dublin (UCD). In addition to her Programme Director responsibilities, Valerie is also a researcher, lecturer, clinician, clinical supervisor, and Board member – European Family Therapy Association (EFTA) and Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI). Valerie was awarded an EFTA Award in 2025 in recognition of her work in Chairing the Task Force 2022 – 2025 charged with the development of European Training Standards for Family Therapy and Systemic Psychotherapy. The EFTA Training Standards 2025 replaced the earlier EFTA 2011 standards. This work marks a major development for the future of the training of psychotherapists and family therapists, especially given the changing landscape for the profession across Europe.
José Castilho is a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor based in Dublin, working from a psychoanalytic and Jungian perspective. He is a member and supervisor of the Irish Analytical Psychology Association (IAPA), a registrant of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP), and Vice-President of the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP). He has been actively involved in developing psychotherapy education and training standards at European level. His particular interests include preserving psychotherapy as a distinct profession, grounded in its diverse theoretical traditions, relational values and culture, and ensuring that professional regulation supports rather than diminishes the depth, diversity, and integrity of psychotherapeutic practice.
Katja Heyer is a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor. She currently holds the post of Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Psychotherapy at University College Dublin (UCD) where she has responsibility for the Child Art Psychotherapy Programme. She is also the Therapeutic and Clinical Lead at Hill Street Family Resource Centre. Katja is an active committee member of the Irish Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IICAPP) where she is the Clinical Supervision Coordinator and is an Infant Observation Seminar Leader on the MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Her current research interest is in parent work and outcome measures.
Dr Noreen Giffney is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She is the author of the book, The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic (Routledge 2021), and the author and/or editor of additional articles and books on psychoanalysis, psychosocial studies, and the arts, culture and mental health. She is the director, with Allen Fatimaharan, of the animated short film, Cultural Encounters (2026); the joint Editor-In-Chief, with Emmanuelle Smith, of New Associations psychoanalytic magazine (British Psychoanalytic Council); and a member of the creative team (led by Jill Bennett) for World Comes Alive (fEEL 2025), the first VR experience underpinned by psychoanalytic thinking.
Breege Maxwell is a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist with 24 years’ experience working with children, adolescents and families. She is currently Interim Director of the Alders Unit, Tallaght, the state child and adolescent Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) treatment service. She is a Lecturer on the UCD Child Art Psychotherapy Master’s programme, guest lecturer on the TCD Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and examiner for postgraduate clinical training programmes. She offers consultation and therapy on complex CSA cases, including those involving learning disabilities, neurodivergent children and young people, and children with psychiatric diagnoses. Her clinical specialist areas include child neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, complex trauma, and attachment disorders.
Trish is a qualified and accredited psychotherapist, supervisor, mediator and trainer. She is the Director of the Student Counselling Services of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) (www.tcd.ie/Student_Counselling). She is also a regular contributor to the print media in national newspapers, including a weekly column in the Irish Times (email: tellmeaboutit@irishtimes.com) She is the author of two books- #Love: 21st Century Relationships (Mercier) and The Challenge of Retirement (Orpen Press). She has contributed to recently published book ‘The Irish Pub’ (Cork University Press) and to ‘Transforming Gender Equality and Inclusion within Higher Education in Ireland – Contemporary Perspectives’ (UCL).
Geraldine is an accredited Psychoanalyst and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist accredited with the Association for Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI) and the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP). Geraldine has over 35 years’ experience as a clinician working with adult victims of childhood trauma, providing individual psychotherapy and group psychotherapy processes. Geraldine is trained in Organisational Systems Therapy and has designed a model entitled “Tending to the System, by the System, for the System” for organisations. Geraldine has completed her Human Rights Law Thesis entitled “In the Shadow of the Law: Institutional Abuse Victims’ Search For Truth and Justice” and has continued her training in Restorative Justice Mechanisms. Geraldine has provided clinical training both nationally and internationally, and recently presented a Micro Credential in Trauma to The Law Society of Ireland. Geraldine has recently completed an accredited Diploma in Professional and Business Executive Coaching.
Jacky Grainger is a Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Group Facilitator, and Chair of the Board of Directors of Irish Association of Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP). Since the mid-2000s her clinical work has focused on trauma, anxiety, and survivors of institutional abuse by the Catholic Church. She has written for national publications including the Irish Times and Irish Independent, and has served as a journalistic source for RTÉ on psychotherapy and young people. Jacky is committed to ethical, developmentally appropriate therapy for young people and has worked extensively with marginalised communities, including the Traveller Community, people experiencing poverty and addiction, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Micheli Romão is a psychoanalyst, coaching psychologist and organisational leader with extensive experience in psychotherapy, behavioural change and professional governance. She is Chair of the Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI), where she has led initiatives in professional standards, accreditation, communication and organisational development. Micheli is also former Chair of Vhi’s Multicultural Network, where she led people-centred initiatives supporting inclusion, cultural awareness and organisational change. Her work brings together psychoanalytic thinking, coaching psychology and behavioural science to support individuals, teams and professional organisations to adapt, build resilience and create meaningful, sustainable change.
Jane is a child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She has been a long-term member of Irish Forum for Child & Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFCAPP) Board, Chair of IFCAPP for the past four years. She has been working with children and families since she graduated in 2002. She is a Senior Psychotherapist in The Alders Unit Children’s Health Ireland and a clinical supervisor on the Child Art Psychotherapy Masters in UCD.
Barbara Fitzgerald is a psychoanalyst, psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor with a private practice in Dublin. She has worked with individuals, couples, groups and organisations in various professional capacities over the last 40 years, For over twenty years, Barbara served on many Boards within the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP) including the Executive Committee, European Training Standards Committee, Ethics Committee, and was a long serving member of the Training and Accreditation Committee (TAC) which was the main body which recognised and accredited training institutes and training initiatives throughout Europe. Barbara has served in many leadership positions in the profession. She has held positions as Chair of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP), Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP), 2000-2004, Chair of the Psychoanalytic section of ICP. Having worked in clinical, hospital and private institutions over many years, she has brought her clinical insights into her teaching and has lectured in universities and educational institutions in Ireland and internationally. She is currently a Faculty member of the MSC in Psychoanalysis in Trinity College Dublin (TCD).
Dr. Marie Ó Mír is the CEO of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP). She is the Co-Chair of the Health and Social Care Professions Alliance (HSCPA), an umbrella organisation of Professional Bodies, representing over 21,000 HSCPs. She is a Chartered Physiotherapist, having worked clinically for 27 years, the majority of which was spent in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Crumlin, where she developed the first national Paediatric Orthopaedic Triage Clinic, delivered by physiotherapists. She was awarded a PhD from UCD in 2019 for her research on Advanced Practice Physiotherapy in Paediatric Orthopaedics. She has also completed a Professional Diploma In Healthcare Leadership in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in 2022. Marie has worked previously with the HSCP Office in the HSE to publish the Advanced Practice Competency Framework for HSCPs, and is currently a member of the Expert Working Group set up by the Department of Health to develop x-ray referral rights for physiotherapists, encompassing education and governance frameworks and legislative changes. She regularly lectures on paediatric orthopaedics and advanced practice and has presented her research both nationally and internationally including at the World Congress of Physical Therapists in Singapore 2015, Cape Town (July 2017), Geneva (2109), and Dubai (2023).
This conference brings our community together at a pivotal moment to explore the future of psychotherapy in a changing regulatory landscape (CORU). It offers space to reflect on an important question: how do we protect the public while safeguarding the core values, depth and identity of our profession?
This fully in-person event will bring us together to reflect on these issues, generate hope, and work toward a shared vision for the future. It will be a day of stimulating ideas, helping us to look beyond compliance toward a more confident and assertive profession.
Join colleagues from across the profession to reflect, connect and contribute to shaping its future.
The programme includes a keynote address by Tom Warnecke (European Association of Psychotherapy), followed by three panels exploring:
To encourage engagement, participants will be seated at round tables in an interactive format.
Book your place now to view the full programme and speaker details.
We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a stimulating and forwardlooking day.
The Board of The ICP and Rúaidhrí O’Connor, CEO, ICP.
ICP Registrants: €130 (Normal price €155)
Non-Registrants: €160 (Normal price €185)
Trainees: €110 (Normal price €135)
