Dr
Aisling
McMahon
Academic biography
I am an Assistant Professor in Psychotherapy in the School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health at DCU and Chair of the DCU Professional Diploma in Clinical Supervision.
I trained initially as a clinical psychologist (B.A., M.A., M.Psych.Sc., University College Dublin) and then also as a humanistic and integrative psychotherapist (Dip.Psych, Institute of Creative Counselling and Psychotherapy), followed later by a Doctorate in Psychotherapy (London Metanoia Institute/Middlesex University). I have also trained as a group analyst (MSc., University College Dublin) and conduct weekly group analytic psychotherapy in DCU's Healthy Living Centre https://www.dcu.ie/hlc/grouptherapy. I am an Associate Fellow of the Psychological Society of Ireland, an accredited member and supervisor with the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, and a member of the Irish Group Analytic Society.
I have worked in various settings over the last 30 years, including the Irish prison service, community-based and inpatient adult psychiatric services, a community care HSE service for children and adolescents, and private practice. Having engaged in sessional teaching through most of my career, I took up this full-time academic post in DCU in 2015, which has facilitated development of my specialist teaching and research interests in clinical supervision and practitioner development.
Since 2015, I have supervised 14 Masters and 9 Doctorate research studies across various areas of clinical supervision and psychotherapy practice, and I have been an examiner for 20 doctorates in Ireland and internationally. Enquiries in relation to PhD research supervision in relation to clinical supervision and psychotherapy are welcome.
Research interests
My research work explores the field of practitioner competence, aiming to contribute to our understanding of what facilitates and enables best practice from training to retirement.My main research agenda involves exploring and developing our understanding of post-qualification clinical supervision, its intricacies and challenges, and how it may facilitate continued professional development and resilience for practitioners throughout their careers.
I also engage in research in relation to mental health practitioner training, exploring key issues such as mandatory personal therapy, personal development groups and supervision during training.
I also supervise Doctorate and Master's students in relation to various aspects of psychotherapy and supervision practice, including qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods methodologies.