Dr. Tom O'brien

Caroline Nolan is a Medical Herbalist & Psychotherapist, working with a range of natural healing protocols including herbal cleansing, diet, iridology and mind-body techniques. Caroline’s unique combination of training and experience informs her healing approach, combining natural healing and herbs with psychotherapeutic awareness. It is the combination of these approaches that is the cornerstone of her practice whereby regardless of the individual therapy being provided, the work is grounded in a truly holistic, integrative, mind-body paradigm of health and wellbeing. Caroline has been working in a therapeutic capacity with people from all walks of life for almost 15years. Having initially received a B.A. in Social Care Caroline’s career has brought her to work across all sectors of society including with children in the care of the State and their families to those involved with the criminal justice and prison system. Training as a psychotherapist Caroline continued her therapeutic work in a more focused w

Paul McDonnell was a on heroin and methadone for over 20 years until he arrived in Tiglin, the Co. Wicklow Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre. This interview gives a brief insight into his life from leaving school early to using heroin on a regular basis, until he found recovery. Now he is giving back, working in the Tiglin and training to be an addiction worker. When I met him he had just returned from an internship in Canada. Tiglin Challenge is based on the principles of the Teen Challenge Christian based organisation which started caring for troubled youth in New York City in 1958 by David Wilkerson Author of “The Cross and the Switchblade”. The program now has over 500 Teen Challenge Centres in 90 different countries worldwide. Tiglin Challenge strives to help the ‘whole person’, not just the substance abuse. The Tiglin Challenge approach is to teach a whole new way of living by addressing family relationships, work attitudes, self image, peer pressure, temptation, community relationships and a vari

Listen to Michele Culligan artist and social activist from Finglas talk about her journey from community member to community activist. Michelle is not passive, nor does she wait for people to solve her problems . Michelle is proactive, engaging and challenging. Listen to this interview if you believe in the need for collective action in tackling the drug problem.

Austin is a highly experienced Counsellor, offering support and guidance in the areas of substance abuse, compulsive behaviours, relationship difficulties, anxiety, stress management etc. In January 2014 he stepped down from the position of Deputy Director of The Rutland Centre, which is a highly acclaimed Rehabilitation Centre in Dublin, in order to establish a private practice in Counselling and in Clinical Supervision. During his time at the Rutland Centre he worked for many years as Continuing Care Co-ordinator, overseeing the segment of the programme which supports clients and their families in the immediate aftermath of treatment. In this work he gained a great insight into the damage that addiction is capable of inflicting on not just the addicted person, but also on their immediate family, and the support that both require in order for them to take on the challenging but rewarding work of recovery. He helped to establish and develop the support programme for Concerned Persons, including a day-long w

New study explores the social impact of gambling in Ireland Playing Social Roulette is a new study led by Dr. Crystal Fulton, School of Information and Library Studies, University College Dublin, to explore the growing phenomenon of gambling in Ireland. Funded through the Irish Research Council with support from the Departments of Social Protection and Justice and Equality, the study explores all aspects of gambling, in particular, its impact on the lives of those who participate and on community and society. Currently, an overall picture of who gambles, how and why they gamble is not available in Ireland. Casinos and new technologies such as Internet or mobile phone gambling offer new opportunities to gamble, in addition to more traditional forms of gambling. Because gambling may lead to addiction for some, along with financial loss and social alienation, understanding perceptions of gambling and the triggers for problem gambling may critically facilitate development of services and prevention of for th

Monday 11th August 2014 on "Addicted" my guest is Dr. Bobby Smyth Child and Adolescent Consultant Psychiatrist, working in a number of services across south Dublin and lecturing in Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Smyth has published numerous papers on a number of subjects, including Hepatitis C, Injecting drug use, addiction treatment outcomes for young people. He is also a member of the board of Alcohol Action Ireland. Bobby is a straight talker and is not afraid to say what is on his mind. He has a passion for young people and works constantly to improve services and outcomes for teenagers affected by addiction.

On this weeks episode of 'Addicted" on 103.2 Dublin City FM, I interview Dr. Colin O Gara consultant psychiatrist at St. John of God's Hospital in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin. Gambling is a huge problem in Ireland and one I believe we are ignoring at a cost. It is estimated that Irish people gamble €5 billion per year. Dr. Colin estimates that between 5 and 7 per cent of the population are at risk to Gambling Addiction and within this 0.06 to 1per cent are pathological gamblers. In Dublin Gamblers Anonymous.