Meet our Trainers
Caroline McDonnell
Caroline is an Early Years Specialist with over 27 years' experience in the successful the running and management of an Early Years' service. She is committed to continuous professional development, ensuring a culture of excellence and high-quality provision for staff, parents and children within the Early Years' sector...
Sylvia Mooney
Sylvia has 30 years experience working in Early Childhood Education and Care. She currently lectures in Higher Education in ECEC. Her previous roles include establishing and managing ECEC settings, working as a Quality Development Officer, teaching, tutoring, leading professional practice and delivering professional training. Sylvia holds a First Class Hons BA in Early Childhood Teaching and Learning and a Master’s in Education (Early Intervention) from Trinity College Dublin.
Amy Dobbs
Amy Dobbs is an experienced early childhood educator, lecturer, and trainer with expertise spanning both professional practice and higher education. She is currently assistant programme lead and lecturer on a BA in early childhood education and care programme. Her professional interests include social and emotional development, leadership, and supporting reflective, research-informed practice. Amy is passionate about empowering educators to build confidence in their professional roles and to create high-quality learning environments that promote positive outcomes for children and families.
Martina Boylan
Martina has 30 years' experience of working in education and disability with emphasis on empowering parents and education personnel to ensure best outcomes for children. She's based in the South Dublin area and is the mother of 4 children. She holds a M.Ed. in Special Education; M.Sc. Applied Behaviour Analysis; B.Sc. Computer Science & Diploma in Montessori Education.
Valerie Gaynor
Valerie is currently working in a support role in early childhood and school age childcare across the country. A multi-award-winning service where children's rights are at the core of everything they do. Valerie has completed a BA (hons in ECEC) and Masters in Child Family and Communities studies and LINC. She also has qualifications in business management as well as training and development. Her passion for Early Years is focused on how every adult can make a difference in a child's life and how we, as educators, can improve outcomes for children by listening to children and meeting them in this moment at the development stage they are currently in. Valerie is an advocate for children's participatory rights as active citizens in all that affects them. She also believes that working closely with the child's family is hugely beneficial to all.
Eilish Cullen
Eilish has worked with Barnardos for 20 years and began her career working in Barnardos early years services, where she progressed to management. During her career Eilish became an Early Year's Mentor where she spent a number of years supporting services to deliver best practice in line with preschool regulations, Aistear and Siolta. Eilish's heart lies in early years and believes that every child should have the best early years education possible, so they can go on to engage fully in school life and develop positive social and emotional life skills. Eilish holds a BSc (Hons) in Social Science from Maynooth University and also a Level 9 in Leadership and Management for non-profit organisations.
Anne Marie Regan
Anne Marie is a qualified teacher and Guidance Counsellor and has spent all her teaching career working with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in Ireland and in the US. As well as teaching, Anne Marie spent many years working in the social services sector as a Coordinator of Family Welfare Conferences, ensuring the full and active participation of all, most importantly listening to the voices of children and young people. Anne Marie also worked in advocacy, assisting and empowering parents of children in the care system. Anne Marie is passionate about children and young people, their welfare, education and holistic development. Anne Marie is currently teaching in a school for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities.
Helen O’Shea
Helen O’Shea specialises in working with young people and currently works as programmes director with YMCA Ireland. Helen is responsible for 5 alternative education projects in the Cork region. She is part of the YMCA National team and is responsible for child protection and safeguarding and she is DLP. She has a degree in Business, a honours degree in Social Care and a Masters Degree in community and voluntary sector management. Helen has a background in recovery, addiction residential services, probation and prison services. Helen is passionate about the wellbeing of young people and believes that given support and guidance young people have the opportunity to progress and flourish.
Kendra Seale
Kendra has worked with Barnardos for 11 years providing trauma informed therapeutic support to children and families. Kendra joined the Online Safety Training team and the Child Protection training team in recent years. She qualified from Athlone Institute Of Technology with a degree in Applied Social Care and worked for both Tusla and the Peter McVerry Trust before joining Barnardos. Kendra continues her professional development journey training as a Primary School teacher, while currently teaching 4th class.
Sharon Byrne
Sharon Byrne has over 30 years’ experience working in early childhood education and care. Sharon currently works as an Infant Mental Health Coordinator with ECEC settings in an Area Based Childhood Programme and is an endorsed Infant Mental Health Mentor®. Her previous roles included manager of a national programme of supports for the sector with Barnardos, Aistear and Síolta mentor and manager of full day community ECEC settings. Sharon is particularly interested in infant and early childhood mental health, trauma informed practice and the key role early years educators hold in supporting children and their families. Sharon is an experienced trainer and has written several resources on the topic of trauma informed practice. Sharon holds a BA in Early Childhood Education, a MA in Child, Family and Community Studies and a Post Grad Diploma in Trauma Studies.
Sinéad Hartnett
Sinéad is an integrative psychotherapist, teacher and workshop facilitator working in the mental health and wellbeing arena for over twenty-five years. She has worked on behalf of Tusla, the Schools Completion Programme, the YMCA, Addiction Services, Foroige, Childhood Matters, First Fortnight and community-based projects. At the heart of Sinéad’s work is the cultivation of awareness, resilience, choice, wisdom and empowerment. She does this through offering individual and group therapeutic interventions, workshops and psychoeducational programmes. She specialises in supporting children, adolescents and families experiencing challenges, marginalisation and vulnerabilities. Her work is person centred and child-led and Sinéad is passionate about working collaboratively to find a wraparound care that enables young people and their families.
Tim Murphy
Tim Murphy is a qualified psychotherapist and addiction service manager with over twenty years experience working within front line services. He also teaches addiction studies from time to time. He is committed to a rights based approach towards addiction treatment that is grounded in clinical research. Tim holds Masters degrees in Integrative Psychotherapy and Drug and Alcohol Policy.
Celine O’Connor
For the past 24 years, Celine has worked in the social work sector, covering areas such as Child Protection, Adult Safeguarding, disability, older person's services, and mental health services for both children and adults. She has progressed from frontline social worker to management, and now work as an Independent Social worker, supervisor and trainer. She also contributes to social work education as a practice tutor and guest lecturer. She is dedicated to ensuring children's voices are heard, their rights protected, and always advocates working in a trauma-informed manner.
Fiona Day
Fiona is recently retired from fifteen years of work with Barnardos Ireland, where she was a Safety Network facilitator, helping families plan safety for their children using the ‘Signs of Safety’ approach to child protection. Fiona has had many years’ experience working with children, youth, women and families in both statutory and voluntary sector agencies. Fiona worked in Family Welfare Conference Coordination since 2000, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Youth Offending Service (UK), and then in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Child & Family Social Work (UK), after which she moved to Barnardos Ireland, continuing Family Welfare Conference Coordination. In addition, Fiona worked with children and young people who had experienced domestic violence and abuse for eight years in two Women’s Aid refuges in the 1990’s in London, after working as a youth worker in Hammersmith & Fulham in the 1980’s.
At Barnardos, we take pride in the high quality of our training, which is delivered by experts in the field.
It is underpinned with excellent content, informed by thorough research and it’s application in work with children and families. Our trainers openly share their practice experience to ensure the training is a worthwhile learning opportunity for all participants.
