TMHRG Team
Current Researchers
Dr Mathew McCauley
Dr McCauley is the Director of TMHRG. He is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at TCD and a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with a specialization in military clinical psychology. Dr McCauley's background includes 20 years of service across international military healthcare systems.
He completed his doctoral residency at the UK's Royal Centre for Defence Medicine and RAF Brize Norton, followed by post-doctoral training in military psychology and operational mental health in the US and Britain. Dr McCauley's professional background includes service with the US 48th Medical Group, 501st Combat Support Wing and USUHS, the UK JMC's Defence Medical Service, Ireland's DF Medical Services, and NATO's STO.
An Associate Fellow of the BPS, he is a founding member of the BPS Defence and Security Psychology Section. He is also a Fellow of the APA and a recipient of APA's Div19 Presidential Citation for advancing the science and practice of military psychology.
Email: [email protected]
Comdt Dorota O'Brien
Comdt O’Brien is the Deputy Director of TMHRG. She is a Commissioned Army Officer and is the first fulltime Clinical Psychologist to serve with the Irish Permanent Defence Forces (PDF). Comdt O'Brien has held this clinical appointment for over 15 years and is currently managing Military Clinical Psychology within the PDF. She oversees the clinical delivery and provision of military psychological care to personnel who serve within the Irish Army, Air Corps, and Naval Service. As a member of various working groups and boards, she is responsible for creating and delivering mental health policies and clinical governance over psychological services with the DF. She also holds an advisory role to the higher command.
On an international level,
Comdt O'Brien represents Ireland on the Military Mental Health Expert Panel for NATO & PfP and is co-chair of a NATO HFM RTG developing a psychological guide for leaders during overseas operational cycles; most recently drafting the consensus of fitness to deploy for all nations and recommendations to COMEDS from mental health perspective in the COVID-19 pandemic.
She continues her professional development in the field of clinical psychology, psychotherapy, resilience and trauma management, and its military aspects. Comdt O'Brien obtained her Masters Degree at the University of Silesia in Poland. She is a Visiting Research Assistant at Trinity College Dublin and continues her further education at National University of Ireland, Galway.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Colm Doody
Dr Doody is a Psychologist with applied experience and research publications in the fields of military/operational psychology, clinical psychology, social psychology, counter terrorism and defence. He is a Commissioned Officer in the Irish Army Reserve and is currently serving as a Special Staff Officer in the Office of the Defence Forces Organisational Psychologist, in Defence Forces Headquarters. Dr Doody is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin.
Dr Doody was awarded a BA Hons in Denominated Psychology from NUI Galway, now University of Galway, in 2016 and he received his PhD in Psychology from the University of Galway in 2022. His doctoral research was conducted in close collaboration with the Irish Defence Forces. The title of his PhD thesis was: Building psychological resilience in Defence Forces personnel prior to deployment: designing a novel, resilience building programme for DF personnel prior to deployment on United Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.
At present, he is completing a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Fionnbar Lenihan
Dr Lenihan is a Consultant Psychiatrist with the Irish Defence Forces and a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin. He graduated from University College Galway, National University of Ireland, in 1991 with a degree in Medicine. Dr Lenihan completed house jobs (internship) and a year of General Medicine in Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry, before accepting a position with the British Antarctic Survey as a Medical Officer in and around the Antarctic continent from 1993 to 1995. As well as clinical work, he collected data for research, which was later used as the basis for the award of a Masters Degree in Remote Healthcare (Polar option) by Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. The topics of his research concerned telemedicine and a health database.
Following his return from the Antarctic, Dr Lenihan chose to specialise in psychiatry, going on to complete basic specialist training on the St Patrick’s / Trinity College training scheme. He was awarded Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1998. During this period, he completed a Diploma in Health Informatics. Dr Lenihan worked at the Maudsley Hospital in a mixed clinical / research Specialist Registrar position on a large schizophrenia trial (CUTLASS) between 1999 and 2001. He went on to specialise in Forensic Psychiatry and completed dual Forensic and General Adult Psychiatry training in Scotland between 2001 and 2005.
From 2005 to 2020, he worked, first as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, and later (2013 onwards), as a Clinical Director in a medium secure forensic unit in Edinburgh.
Since mid-2020, he returned to Ireland to work with the Defence Forces as a Consultant Psychiatrist. Dr Lenihan edited a book, Computers in Psychiatry (ISBN 1904671497) and recently contributed a chapter to a new edition which is awaiting publication. His longstanding clinical and research interests involve telepsychiatry and health informatics, violence, service design and the use of security. More recently, his evolving interests include, in addition, trauma, EMDR as well as occupational and expeditionary mental health.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Nicola Mitchell
Clinical Psychologist and researcher in military mental health. Further details to follow.
Email: [email protected]
Mr Eoin O'Shea
Eoin is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of both the Psychological Society of Ireland and the British Psychological Society. He is a Visiting Research Assistant at Trinity College Dublin and a serving Army Reservist in the Irish Defence Forces (DF). He provides research input for the Standing Committee of the DF's 'Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy (2020-2023).' His DF tasks have included research reviews concerning military mental health, development activities for mental health supports available to personnel throughout the deployment cycle, and some upcoming development of mental wellbeing supports for partners and families of serving personnel.
Eoin has studied at University College Cork, Queen's University Belfast, the University of Oxford, and Trinity College Dublin. He is separately trained in EMDR, Psychological First Aid, and CISM; and he is accredited by the BABCP. Eoin has over 15 years' experience in clinical, research, teaching/training, management and supervisory positions. His areas of professional interest and application include military and humanitarian mental health, PTSD and occupational trauma, and online mental health support.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Dean Whybrow
Dean is a Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing at Cardiff University and a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Psychological Therapies. Prior to his academic career, he served a full career in the Royal Navy, working across military mental health services. Dean was the Royal Navy’s Deputy Specialist Nurse Advisor for Mental Health and a Visiting Researcher at King’s College, London.
He holds a PhD in Organisational Health and Wellbeing and he is actively engaged in research and academic writing; combining clinical practice with teaching. His research focuses on organizational and employee health and wellbeing, along with psychological trauma and resilience.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Gerry Dolan
Dr Dolan is a recent graduate of the TCD clinical psychology doctorate programme. He previously served in the Royal Air Force for 9 years, undertaking aerospace and battle management in the UK and overseas. His research interests are in the domains of identity and childhood adversity within military populations, primarily through a qualitative/experiential lens.
Dr Dolan is preparing to undertake additional clinical and research work with military veterans. His doctoral research examined the following: Factors Influencing the Salience of Military/Veteran Identity Post Discharge: A Scoping Review (Due to be published 2022); and Military ACEs: Veterans Experience of Military Discharge and its Impact on Their Sense of Identity (Due to be published 2022).
Email: [email protected]
Ms Shelley Bradley-Scholey
Shelley is an NHS Clinical Service Lead in Mental Health and an Associate Lecturer, Supervisor and Assessor at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre. A Registered Nurse (Mental Health) and Specialist Psychological Therapist, Shelley's 18-year career includes national and overseas military operational service as a clinician in the UK Armed Forces.
Shelley holds an MSc in CBT Research and is NMC Registered.
She is also a BABCP Accredited CBT practitioner and an Accredited EMDR consultant/ supervisor. Shelley researches in the area of military & veterans mental health, along with psychological therapies for trauma. She served as a trial therapist in the Kings' College, London ‘Battlemind’ study, and engaged in research focused on remote and austere clinical locations. She is interested in the cultural aspects of mental health treatment, occupational mental health, and psychological trauma.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Aoife Moloney
Clinical Psychologist, researcher in military mental health, and former Army Reservist. Further details to follow.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Sinead Ni Chaolain
Clinical Psychologist and researcher in military mental health. Further details to follow.
Email: [email protected]
Mr John Lalor
John is a Chartered Psychologist, holding masters degrees in occupational psychology and cognitive science. He researches in the area of psychological stress and resilience. John is currently working in the fields of visual impairment, and intellectual and physical disabilities.
Email: [email protected]
Ms Nicola Keane
Nicola is a final-year doctoral student in clinical psychology at TCD. She obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology from Maynooth University in 2015 and went on to complete a masters degree in applied psychology in University College Cork in 2016. Over the past 7 years, Nicola has worked in a wide range of clinical settings including the HSE, Irish Prison Service and St. Patrick's Mental Health Services.
She has experience in mixed-method research approaches and her masters dissertation, which explored service users' experiences of an open dialogue-informed intervention, was published in the Journal of Mental Health in 2020. Nicola is currently undertaking research on how service users of a Compassionate Resilience Group programme experience fears, blocks and resistances to compassion and if/how these experiences change at pre, post and 6-month follow-up.
Ms Kate Lawler
Kate is a final-year doctoral student in clinical psychology at TCD. She is undertaking research on the medically unexplained pain amongst traumatised asylum seekers. Kate completed a research masters degree at TCD as a recipient of an Irish Research Council scholarship, during which she examined dropout from an iCBT intervention. This research project was in collaboration with SilverCloud Health and the TCD e-Mental Health Research Group. At SilverCloud Health, Kate worked on a large-scale RCT with NHS IAPT and the development of an online self-management tool for bipolar disorder for the HSE. She also worked as a research assistant in the TCD Infant and Child Research Lab.
Ms Marina Dillon
Marina is a doctoral student in counselling psychology at TCD. She also holds an MSc degree in applied psychology from TCD, along with an undergraduate degree in psychology from Maynooth University. As part of her doctoral training, Marina has completed a placement in the psychiatry of later life, and she is currently undertaking a placement in CAMHS. She is active in psychological research, currently investigating an area of psychotherapeutic work with adolescents. Marina has also completed award-winning research entitled “Transitioning from Military Service to Civilian Life: Psychosocial Experiences of Military Veterans following Discharge from the Irish Defence Forces.”