Taking a leap of faith

NEW LIFE:After a career spanning 20 years as a clinical psychologist, Dr Deirdre MacIntyre decided to set up an organisation to help children with learning difficulties, writes LORNA SIGGINS

YOU ARE A specialist in your field, you can see the opportunities before you, but there’s little or nothing that you can do. If this place sounds vaguely familiar, it is where Dr Deirdre MacIntyre found herself almost a decade ago.

She wasn’t a solo traveller, either. A colleague and close friend, Dr Moya O’Brien, had also reached that bus stop. The trick was to recognise when it was time to jump off.

“We had trained in psychology together, she was my bridesmaid, I was her birth partner and we had worked together in what was the Eastern Health Board before it became the Eastern Regional Health Authority ,” MacIntyre recalls. “We both had families with small kids, and very heavy clinical caseloads at work.

“I loved my career in child guidance, I loved my clinical work, but both of us felt that our impact was limited within the health board structure,” MacIntyre recalls.

At this point, she had nearly 20 years’ experience as a clinical psychologist and was principal in charge of the ERHA’s child and adolescent psychology services. She had been involved in establishing community-based psychology services for children and their families.

She was attached to a number of special schools and residential treatment units for young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. And she was co-author of the national child protection programme Stay Safe – an initiative which began as a small voluntary project.

“We fundraised to get it going, and actors like Owen Roe and Rosemary Henderson gave of their time for free,” MacIntyre recalls. It became a component of the primary school curriculum, and has even more relevance now with the recent publication of the Murphy report into the Dublin archdiocese.

MacIntyre’s particular interest was in early detection of learning difficulties, such as dyslexia or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and in effective interventions for children and young people with social and emotional problems.

Her colleague, Dr Moya O’Brien had trained and worked in both Ireland and North America on special needs area, had taught in NUI Maynooth, was an expert in applied behaviour analysis, and was manager of the ERHA’s parenting unit.

“We wanted to reach out to as many teachers and parents as we could, and felt the online medium was the most direct route,” MacIntyre says. And so, the Institute for Child Education and Psychology, Europe (ICEP Europe) was formed.

“It was very much a leap of faith. Initially, I had the security of five years’ leave of absence from the ERHA as a cushion, but the big leap was when we had to leave. By that time, we felt we were established enough, but it was and is a very different place – working for yourself. Fortunately, we have a passion for what we do,” MacIntyre says.

In 2001, its founding year, ICEP Europe was selected as overall winner of University College Dublin’s campus company development programme.

In partnership with St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin, ICEP Europe developed one of the world’s first online courses in autism. It was part-funded by the Department of Education and Science under the Government’s National Development Programme.

Over time, a wide portfolio of courses addressing various aspects of child behaviour were developed online. “Teachers are busy people, who don’t always have time to take off to study special education needs or social and emotional needs of children,” she says.

“These are professionals who could have enormous experience in education, but may never had a child with autism in their class before. It is very rewarding to see the scales fall off their eyes when they do the course and have their ‘eureka!’ moment,” McIntyre points out.

The Department of Education and Science took ICEP Europe on as a pilot programme, initially. It has been very supportive in the long-term partnership which developed since 2001. And last year the team won an international tender to become the sole provider for online career professional development (CPD) for teachers of special needs. Its courses were also university- accredited, and recognised by professional bodies such as the Psychological Society of Ireland.

The full programme ranges from 20-hour continuous professional development modules in special/inclusive education, to certificate and advanced diplomas, to advanced skills such as classroom management, general learning disabilities and teaching talented/gifted children.

The institute now also employs Dr Eileen Winter as director of academic programmes – she has substantial experience, both as an educator and as a psychologist, in inclusion and special education needs in Ireland on both sides of the Border, and in Canada.

The group is now looking at designing courses specifically for parents in response to demand. It is also focusing on research – including a three-year longitudinal study on special needs in Irish schools, with Trinity College Dublin and the University of Northampton, which is being funded by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The study, known as Project Iris (Inclusive Research in Irish Schools), is charged with examining the way school policies and practices impact on children’s educational experiences; how the curriculum is delivered to those with special educational needs; the way in which resources and support services are used; and the application of individual education plans for the students (see www.project iris.org).

“I see common factors in both Stay Safe and ICEP Europe, in that we are trying to make an impact at multiple layers,” MacIntyre says. “A team of people will take six to nine months to develop a course, because it is quality that makes the essential difference.”

She finds the work rewarding, but also challenging at a time of economic difficulty. “We have branched out, and are work- ing with other professionals, such as youth workers and psychologists and are also extending our provision to Britain and internationally,” MacIntyre says.

She has no nostalgia for the life she left behind, except for the direct clinical work. “I do miss working with children and young people, but we still consult with parents, teachers and schools, and that is one part of the work that I really enjoy,” she says.

“And by working in this way, we can make a difference to so many more people. We are very lucky to have gathered a dedicated and talented group of people here in ICEP Europe, and our work is also supported by a network of nearly 20 tutors and international consultants.

“For me there is a creative and energising stimulus in helping people to support children and young people with diverse needs,” she says.

“That is what makes it all worthwhile.”

www.icepe.eu