Adolescent Mental Health Services

The aim of the adolescent team is to form trusting relationships which can help young people and their families to build on existing strengths and develop new skills that may allow them to manage themselves and their feelings in a more appropriate way in the future.

Our team consists of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Mental Health Nurses working with Clinical Psychologists, Cognitive Behavioural Therapists, Social Worker/Family Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Advanced Nurse Practitioner/Psychotherapist, Creative Therapists, Dietician and Teaching Staff.

Willow Grove Adolescent Unit

Dr Una Dennison

Consultant Psychiatrist

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Dr Una Dennison

Dr Una Dennison, MB BAO BCh MRCPsych MD, is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist working with St Patricks Mental Health Services since June 2018 following relocation from London where she worked with the National Health Service (NHS) as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. 

Dr Dennison has experience working with young people and their families across a wide variety of settings, including both outpatient, inpatient and liaison Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). She has experience leading a Neuro-Developmental/Learning Disability Team in the United Kingdom. Dr Dennison has a special interest in inpatient adolescent psychiatry and adolescent eating disorders and has spent time working in a specialist adolescent eating disorders unit at the Priory Hospital, London. She has also worked in Sydney, Australia.

Dr Dennison has a strong teaching background, having spent 18 months working as a clinical lecturer/tutor in psychiatry in University College Cork and has experience teaching a mixture of audiences at both under-graduate and post-graduate level, including post-graduate, medical and secondary school students, allied health professionals and GPs. She completed a Masters Degree by Research on immune dysfunction in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and has several publications relevant to this field.

She is a member of the College of Psychiatry of Ireland and is fully compliant with Continuous Professional Development (CPD) requirements.

Publications

Dennison U., Dinan T., 2012. “Schizophrenia patients with a history of childhood trauma have a pro-inflammatory phenotype”.  Psychological Medicine Feb 2012, 23: 1-7
Dennison U., Dinan T., 2012. “Menstrual Cycle influences toll-like receptor responses”. Neuroimmunomodulation 19: 171 – 179
Dennison U., Cassidy E., 2011. “The clinical correlates of lithium toxicity – a retrospective review”.  Irish Journal of Medical Science Vol 180; No 3, 661 – 665
Mc Kernan D., Dennison U., Dinan T., “Enhanced peripheral toll-like receptor responses in psychosis: further evidence of a pro-inflammatory phenotype”.  Translational Psychiatry Aug 2011: 1(8); e36.

Dr Susan Healy

Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist

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Dr Susan Healy

Dr Susan Healy is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, currently working with St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS). She has worked as a consultant in outpatient and inpatient settings both in Cork and Dublin since 2012. She has been working with SPMHS’ adolescent services since August 2014.

She has a keen interest in cyberbullying and has completed published research in this area, looking at its effects on the mental health of young people.

She has also completed a Masters degree in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for children and adolescents with University College Dublin (UCD), and has been trained in Group-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Her other areas of interest include teaching, which expands to undergraduate students, postgraduate students, general practitioners and teachers.

Dr Healy has had the opportunity to work as a doctor abroad for three years and was based in Australia for two years and New Zealand for one year prior to returning to Ireland to complete her training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr Aileen Murtagh

Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist and Assistant Medical Director with Special Responsibility for Adolescent Mental Health Services

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Dr Aileen Murtagh

Dr Aileen Murtagh MB BAO BCh  MRCPsych MCPSychI MSc is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist and Assistant Medical Director with Special Responsibility for Adolescent Mental Health Services in St Patrick’s Mental Health Services. Her special interests include Gender Dysphoria, early onset psychosis, e-learning and mental health training for teachers. She has years of experience working with young people and their families in a wide variety of settings.

She has been involved in teaching a wide range of groups including GPs, teachers, Special Needs Assistants, educational psychologists, parents, allied health professionals, medical students, postgraduate psychiatric trainees and secondary school students. She has developed blended learning courses for the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland and interactive e-learning courses for teachers.

She has been a guest lecturer in UCD, Trinity College, Church of Ireland College of Education, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, NUIGalway and teacher education centres in Tallaght, Drumcondra and Athlone

Academic & professional qualifications

  • Bachelor of Medicine, MB BAO BCh (Hons); National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Masters in CBT for Children & Adolescents (First Class Hons) Msc
  • Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (CSCST)
  • Member of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland MCPsychI
  • Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK MRCPsych

Research & publications

She has published and presented nationally and internationally on early onset psychosis, mental health training for teachers, ADHD and bipolar disorder. A few of these publications are listed below: 

Psychotic symptoms, functioning and coping in adolescents with mental illness.
Johanna Wigman, Nina Devlin, Ian Kelleher, Aileen Murtagh, Michelle Harley, Anne Keogh, Carol Fitzpatrick, Mary Cannon.
BMC Psychiatry 2014, 14:97 

Psychotic experiences in a mental health clinic sample: implications for suicidality, multimorbidity and functioning.
Ian Kelleher, Nina Devlin, Johanna Wigman, Anne Keogh, Aileen Murtagh, Carol Fitzpatrick, Mary Cannon.
Psychological Medicine 2013 Sep 12:1-10

Neurocognitive performance of a community-based sample of young people at putative ultra high risk for psychosis: Support for the processing speed hypothesis.
Ian Kelleher, Aileen Murtagh, Mary Clarke, Jennifer Murphy, Caroline Rawdon, Mary Cannon.
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry  2012 DOI:10.1080/13546805.2012.682363. 

Identification and Characterization of Prodromal Risk Syndromes in Young Adolescents in the Community: A Population-based Clinical Interview Study
Ian Kelleher, Aileen Murtagh, Charlene Molloy, Sarah Roddy, Mary Clarke, Michelle Harley, Mary Cannon
Schizophrenia Bulletin 2012; 38(2): 239-46 

Structural and functional brain correlates of subclinical psychotic symptoms in 11 to 13  year old schoolchildren.
Sarah Jacobson, Ian Kelleher, Dr Michelle Harley, Dr Aileen Murtagh, Mary Clarke, Mathieu Blanchard, Colm Connolly, Erik O’Hanlon, Prof Hugh Garavan, Prof Mary Cannon.
Neuroimage 2010 Jan 15; 49(2): 1875-85.

 Psychotic Symptoms in Children and Adolescents.
Dr Michelle Harley, Dr Aileen Murtagh, Ian Kelleher, Prof Mary Cannon.
In: Adolescent Schizophrenia, JT Nillinghouse & RP Trotman: Nova Science Publishers, Inc (US) 2009, pgs 39-52. 

Are Screening Instruments Valid for Psychotic-Like Experiences?
A Validation Study of Screening Questions for Psychotic-Like Experiences using In-Depth Clinical Interview.
Ian Kelleher, Dr Michelle Harley, Dr Aileen Murtagh Prof  Mary Cannon.
Schizophrenia Bulletin  First published online June 19, 2009 

Conduct disorder: psychiatry’s greatest opportunity for prevention.
Dr Michelle Harley, Dr Aileen Murtagh, Prof Mary Cannon.
Psychological Medicine 2008 Jul 38(7): 929-31

Dr Colman Noctor

Dr Colman Noctor worked as a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist at St Patrick's Mental Health Services until September 2020

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Dr Colman Noctor

Colman Noctor is a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytical Psychotherapist. He worked across a range of child and adolescent mental health services both in Ireland and abroad and he has a wealth of national and international clinical experience.

Having completing a Post Graduate Higher Diploma in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Dublin City University (DCU), Colman completed a Graduate Diploma in Psychoanalytic Studies in Dublin Business School and a Master of Science in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Colman is presently pursuing his Doctorate in Psychotherapy in DCU.

Colman has worked in Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin and the Lucena Child Mental Health Services. Colman worked in St Patricks Mental Health Services until September 2020, when he was also a part-time Associate Professor in TCD. He also has a small private practice in the Personal Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre in Naas.

Aaron Swift

Acting Senior Psychologist

Aaron Swift

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Dr Aileen Murtagh