Board
Mental Health Reform Board Members
Edmond Molloy, Ph.D., Chairman of Mental Health Reform
Eddie has operated for 35 years as an independent consultant specialising in strategy, large-scale organisation change and innovation. He has carried out assignments in all sectors, ranging from central banks to religious orders and from multinational corporations to NGOs and Universities. He has extensive experience of consulting to the Public Service. He has worked in many countries around the world and for four years was based in Barbados, West Indies. Eddie’s academic background is in philosophy, clinical psychology, industrial psychology and organisational behaviour. He is joint author of a number of books on improving productivity and quality of life. Over the past three years, he has become deeply involved in the area of mental health. He is Chairman of Mental Health Reform, which campaigns for improvement in Mental Health Services, and is Trustee of Genio, whose mission is to accelerate the availability of proven, cost-effective solutions that enable people at risk of social exclusion to lead full lives. Eddie is Director of Advanced Organisation. He is married with two grown-up children. He is Honorary Consul for Barbados in Ireland.
Paul Flynn is retired from the Medical Devices Industry where he held Senior Management positions for over thirty years mostly in Human Resources and General Management. He is married for 41 years with four grown-up children. He is a service user and has just completed his studies in Personal and Business Coaching. His interests are in golf, reading and gardening. He was also on the first Independent Monitoring Group for the Implementation of A Vision for Change. Paul holds the service user and HR expertise on the Board
John Saunders has been the Director of Shine since 2001. As Director he is specifically responsible for the development of accurate public awareness of mental ill health and highlighting the issues and concerns of people and their caring families. He was a member of the Expert Group established in 2003, to review and update mental health service policy resulting in A Vision for Change. John was also a member of the NESF Working group on Mental Health and Social Inclusion and he is a member of the Board of Directors of EUFAMI (A European organisation of Voluntary mental health associations representing Families). John is Chairman of the Mental Health Commission and in June 2009 he was appointed as Chair of the 2nd Independent Monitoring Group to oversee and report on the implementation of A Vision for Change. John is also the Director of See Change, the National Stigma Reduction Partnership. See Change is Ireland’s national programme working to change minds about mental health problems in Ireland. John is a founder of the Irish Mental Health Coalition and was the first Chair. Paul holds the service provider expertise on the Board.
Sam McGuinness joined Dublin Simon Community in 2004 and his previous career spanned 25 years in General Management, working in Ireland and abroad in the Financial Services, Technology and Healthcare Sectors. His areas of expertise include driving Strategy Development, Customer Service, Business Process Redesign and Change Management. Sam is a member of the Simon Communities of Ireland Board and held the position of Chair and Vice Chair of the Homeless Network (Dublin) in the recent past. Sam has been involved at a detailed level in the reviews and evaluations of the Homeless sector since 2008. He has participated extensively in the development of the ‘Pathway to Home’ Blueprint and Implementation Plan, which resulted in the recent Government approved reconfiguration plan for all Statutory and non-Statutory agencies involved in Homelessness in the Dublin Region. Sam holds the social inclusion, service provider expertise on the Board, representing homelessness and substance misuse.
Noeleen Hartigan is the Programmes Director with Amnesty International Ireland. In this role she is responsible for coordinating the work of the organisation’s Communications, Campaigns and Activism, Human Rights Education and Research and Legal teams. She holds a BA in Literature and Philosophy from University College Dublin and an MA in International Relations from DCU where she specialised in international housing rights law. Ms Hartigan has worked for a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
in press and campaigning roles in Ireland, most recently serving five years as the National Campaigns Manager with the Simon Communities of Ireland. She has also engaged as a volunteer with a number of NGOs at a domestic and international level. Noeleen holds the campaigning expertise on the Board.
Jacinta Hastings has been the Chief Executive Officer of Bodywhys, the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, since 2007. Prior to that, she worked in a senior capacity with Mental Health Ireland and was involved in a number of European projects co-ordinated by Mental Health Europe. She has considerable experience of the statutory and voluntary mental health sectors, having worked in both areas since the late 1980s. Jacinta has contributed to the development, implementation and monitoring of strategic plans and is currently involved in lobbying, campaigning and advocating for eating disorders and mental health service improvement and the implementation of the relevant recommendations of the national policy A Vision for Change. Jacinta is the voluntary sector representative on the Board of the EU funded Cross Border initiative C.A.W.T. (Caring and Working Together). Advocating for user involvement and a recovery based approach to mental health provision is a strong focus of current campaigning. Jacinta holds NGO support service expertise on the Board
Colette Nolan is Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Advocacy Network (IAN) Colette trained and has worked with IAN as a peer advocate since September 2000. Colette developed peer advocacy within all the mental health services in Dublin and Mid Leinster and worked with HSE, Department of Health, Vision for Change steering group, Mental Health Commission, Mental Health Ireland, Forum for Older People, and is an expert by experience with Amnesty International Ireland. Colette holds the service users advocacy expertise on the Board.
Caroline McGrath is a practising barrister and has also worked extensively in the community and voluntary sector in Ireland in the areas of housing, homelessness, mental health and disability. Previous positions include Director of the Irish Mental Health Coalition, Director of Advocacy at Focus Ireland, Deputy CEO at Mental Health Ireland and Director of the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability. Caroline holds an MA in the Sociology of Health and Illness and was called to the Irish Bar in 2008. Caroline joined the Board as the legal expert.
Dr. John Owens is a former Chairperson of the Mental Health Commission. He is a Consultant Psychiatrist and former Clinical Director of the Cavan/Monaghan Mental Health Service. Dr. Owens has been to the forefront of innovation in mental health service delivery with the development, under his leadership, of the home-based treatment model in the Cavan-Monaghan service. John joined the Board in October 2010 as the mental health expert.
Carol Moore is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland with a strong track record of implementing change in a wide range of industry sectors in functions from accounting, IT, logistics and change management. She has post graduate qualifications in social science, education, psychometrics, and a masters in psychology. Since 2000 she has been operating as a freelance management consultant, interim manager and coach specialising in helping organisations become more productive, implementing change through stakeholder involvement quickly and cost effectively. Carol has considerable experience of the not for profit sector, acting as chief executive in a number of not for profits organisations and is also a co-founder of Dual Diagnosis Ireland which raises awareness of the high prevalence of co-existing addiction and mental health problems. Carol is the finance expert on the Board.
Michele Kerrigan has been the Chief Executive Officer of GROW in Ireland – World Community Mental Health Movement since 2007. Prior to this, she was Deputy CEO of Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland with special responsibility for the MS Care Centre. She was involved at both a European and International level representing MS Ireland. She was instrumental in producing two booklets aimed at supporting people with new diagnoses of the MS. She has considerable experience of the statutory and voluntary sector. Michele has contributed to the development of new structures within GROW in Ireland as well as the development, implementation and monitoring of strategic plans. She campaigns for improved mental health services and has a strong focus on a recovery- based approach to mental health provision, which, is in line with GROW in Irelands’ Program of Recovery. Michele holds a diploma in Health and Social Care and Business Computing and a Masters in Management in the Voluntary and Community Sector. Michelle holds the service provider expertise on the Board.
Dr. Mary Donnelly is a Senior Lecturer in the Law Faculty at University College Cork. She works in the areas of mental health and human rights and is especially interested in issues of consent and capacity. She is the author of Healthcare Decision-Making and the Law: Autonomy, Capacity and the Limits of Liberalism (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and Consent: Bridging the Gap Between Doctor and Patient (Cork University Press, 2002) as well as international and Irish articles and book chapters in relation to aspects of mental health law. Mary is the legal and academic expert advisor to the Board and attends Board meetings as required.
