Virge obtained an undergraduate degree in Psychology steeped in Psychoanalysis and completed further postgraduate study in Trinity College Dublin obtaining MSc in Psychology (Applied Behaviour Analysis) with Distinction. 

As a child, Virge always believed in the power of fairy tales and happy endings. Attracted to the character of the fairy godmother, she believes that her unique education combining opposing schools of thought in Psychology such as Psychoanalysis and Applied Behaviour Analysis can be the wand to help achieving better outcomes. Virge finds it hugely rewarding being able to support families and professionals managing challenging behaviours. Caregivers can often feel judged and frequently blame themselves but Virge reassures that it is not “boldness” demonstrating the purpose behind the behaviours by conducting functional behaviour assessment.

She helps everyone becoming part of the solution and creates a behaviour plan, so all parties can work towards outcomes. Virge is involved in the process by demonstrating and explaining how to implement the strategies for improving functional skills and to overcome behaviours of concern. 

Securing her place at the centre in Alaska, she was exposed to Applied Behaviour Analysis by the resident psychologist who recommended a behaviour support plan for a client presenting with behavioural problems that included head-butting with the intent of self-harm. Implementation of the plan involved collaborating with both the family and other caregivers, meaning the client was supported even when the therapist was not present. Noticing such positive effects, she was inspired to investigate this approach further.   

Upon in enquiry, Marilena discovered that Trinity College Dublin provided a MSc in Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA), she interviewed and secured a place completing her MSc in 2016. Marilena has been with us since and enjoys the resources that ABA brings with its scientific research and constant updating of techniques and strategies.  

This is when the science of behaviour changed her thinking forever. As all behaviour analysts and behavioural psychologists would agree "once you learn the science of behaviour you will never see the world quite the same again". Niamh fell in love with the science of behaviour and became fascinated with its application to all things human behaviour. Having decided that she wanted to learn from the best in the field, she set her eyes again on the USA. She earned an internship at the New England Centre for Children working as part of William Ahearn’s lab. After gaining huge experience and knowledge in her first few years in the field she moved to the May Institute in Boston.

At the May Institute, she began to appreciate the advantage applied behaviour analysis has. In a case with suicidal statements in the absence of physical self-harm, these expressions were unintentionally amplified due to not understanding the science of reinforcing behaviours such as the basic human desire to gain attention and seeking other’s company. The emphasis of the intervention was exactly that – differential reinforcement by placing focus on positive interaction and ensuring attention being available all the time. This lead to suicidal statements and hospitalizations decreasing to near zero. Meaning this client could access school and his community, rather than psychiatric placements.

After eight years of working and learning with some of the most clinically diverse centres and institutes in New England and Boston, Niamh sought to return to Ireland to utilise and challenge her skills. She approached Behaviour Detectives and since the summer of 2022, has been using every aspect of her behavioural skills across our programmes with special attention to mental health.

Niamh firmly believes that behavioural psychology offers a true science that is empirically validated. Everyone receiving and requiring treatment deserves treatment that has been demonstrated to work and be effective. That we monitor our interventions to ensure they are producing the desired outcomes. Niamh continues to provide this ongoing level of professionalism across all of Behaviour Detectives' diverse clients.

Heavily influenced by his time with the SVP, Paul went on to study Psychology a Dublin City University. While there, he gravitated towards modules in Applied Behaviour Analysis taking his placement in his 3rd year at college with the ABA lecturer. During the placement, they concentrated on the experimental side of ABA. One such experiment was to increase engagement with online learning at the University. By incorporating positive reinforcement using feedback, one of the central tenets of ABA, they positively increased student engagement with the websites.  

After completing his undergraduate degree in Psychology at DCU in 2016, he went on study a Masters in Applied Behavioural Analysis in Trinity. Since graduation, Paul has continued working on the field and brings his passion to the team.

Successful in his application he joined the centre which specialised in helping young adults with autism prepare for and get work in the community. They were tough cases, and some were considered impossible to prepare for community integration due to the high frequency of their episodes. Here he was introduced to ABA where he noticed the interventions that were applied successfully reduced the episode frequency to a low count. This not only gave them a real chance of learning enough to get work in the community but seriously improved the quality of everyone’s homelife.

He returned home and worked on the family farm and successfully secured a position as an ABA tutor at Pals, a preschool that provides early intervention for children with Autism. He applied and was accepted to Ulster University pursuing a master’s in applied Behaviour Analysis.

Cormac just recently finished his Masters in ABA. He researched wrote and completed the thesis for his masters while working with Behaviour Detectives in our Outreach programmes.

Stephen met his partner and started looking at settling down and exploring other options. He moved to London and while studying, worked as a barista. A regular customer was a lady who had a child with additional needs. They established a rapport and she invited him to E Unique, a charitable organisation where Stephen facilitated music workshops for adolescents and young adults. He found supporting individuals with various presentations very satisfying and pursued it further by temping as a teacher’s assistant for special needs around London.

After getting engaged, Stephen and his partner moved back to Ireland, where he first signed up for a Masters in Music Therapy. He soon realised that Music Therapy was not for him and felt it didn’t satisfy his need for a more scientific approach. He deferred and, with the help of a family friend, he gained employment as a trainee ABA practitioner in an early intervention class. Impressed by its effective evidence-based scientific approach, he became very excited and passionate about the field. First, Stephen completed a Registered Behaviour Technician course, then applied for an MSc in ABA at Queens University Belfast, which was accepted.

Stephen’s creative side personally connects with the problem-solving and collaborative approach in behavioural science. He prides himself on his ability to build trust and achieve ‘buy-in’ with oftentimes sceptical families. One such family, who was having difficulty with previous methods, having trusted his approach, now have a young adult who had not left his room in eight years, regularly coming downstairs and even spending some time enjoying being outdoors.

Stephen continues to grow professionally with Behaviour Detectives. He provides direct therapeutic sessions, is gaining experience with Multidisciplinary Teams, and all while honouring his commitments to tutoring clients.

Feeling a desire to work in the field where she wanted employment that would have an immediate impact on clients and family. Having been aware of Behaviour Detectives from a previous research she waited for an opening and applied for the post of Behaviour support Therapist. Vivian joined us in May 2022 and has received ongoing training to add to her degree to become a registered behaviour technician while since September 2022 she is in the process of completing her masters while having being awarded a bursary from the company to aid with the financial commitments for her studies

She continues to work fulltime with us providing support across our broad range of clients, adults and children in the community and at home while having the added benefit of supervision and a client base to do beneficial study and research with.

Lian Lian always wanted to study ABA in Ireland but was firstly refused because her only recognised qualification was in chemistry. She had to find a more applicable course to cross over to ABA. In 2019 she found a course in Masters of Education in Special needs in Trinity College Dublin and completed it in 2020. Working in various jobs afterwards including working in the library in Trinity where a friend recommended Behaviour Detectives as a good place to start work in ABA.

Lian Lian started with us in March 2022 as a Behaviour support Therapist. Loving the work she since reapplied for an ABA Masters in Trinity and began her studies in September 2023 with the aid of a bursary she was awarded from the company while also working fulltime in her role with Behaviour Detectives. She finds it both challenging and rewarding and is grateful that she is able to work across a full range of clients from children to adults in the home, community, transition centres for therapeutic experience and research purposes for her Masters.

Her babysitter was terrified she would get a new DVD and play it continuously again and again. She only had one-way conversations and was not interested in and wasn't very good at turn-taking. On one visit to her cousins in Donegal, Teresa’s Dad asked her to devise questions to ask each relative, the caveat being they had to be general questions and were not to be about things she was only interested in. She devised her questions, brought her egg timer along, gave each relative a quick fire from the list and left after 2 minutes without any answers. She was quickly stopped, more work was clearly needed on turn-taking. She was provided with a teacher who worked with her one to one on a conversation piece.

Her anxiety about school and uncertainty about subjects, classroom and times were all handled expertly by her parents, who had been exposed to something they realised later as ABA. Her mother’s friend, a teacher who had returned from Boston, suggested they desensitisation by exposure to the classrooms whereabouts before starting school. She thrived in a secondary school as it was rigidly organised but struggled at the 3rd level. The spare time and the haphazard feel of lectures was destabilising, she nearly quit. Dad intervened, slept on the floor of her dorm and helped her find her way.

Teresa flirted with teacher training first when out of school, but upon realising that it was one size fits all and there was “no one to one” like her childhood experience, she went for an undergraduate degree in Psychology. While there, one lecturer told the a story of how she had desensitised a young autistic child to the sounds in a shopping centre and public transport. Described using mufflers and timers and how increasing the time the mufflers were off successfully acclimatised the child. Teresa was reminded that she had experienced this as a child and realised that ABA was the place where she wanted to be.

Teresa, when not at home shaping her beloved cats behaviour, lectures on how behavioural principles can be used alongside early childhood education and social care. Modules include early intervention, reinforcement, shaping and working with multidisciplinary teams. She has recently written a book called Reluctant Frame Theory Made Simple. She wanted the theory made more accessible and with less jargon. Her Dad is very happy and says it’s the perfect job as she can now talk freely to everyone about what she is interested in.

Her career in healthcare began when she volunteered at a Special Schools for Children with Autism and Complex Needs (Saplings). Roisin changed positions moving to cover for Special Needs Assistants and later covering for teachers. Finally, applying and securing a permanent job there as a Behaviour Analyst. Adventurous and dynamic, like the science of Behaviour Analysis, she wanted to get experience with practise in other settings outside of schools. Her passion for supporting families align with Behaviour Detectives and she has become a valued member of our team since 2019.

Roisin took a sabbatical in 2022 to go traveling the world and we are delighted to have her back since September 23.

After successfully applying to a nursing home to support management she discovered she loved working with the elderly, sitting with them, chatting with them, advocating for them and their families. Having seen Camphill Jerpoint searching for support in the office she was drawn to their therapeutic approach, their purpose of inclusive living for adults with disability. She brought all of her previous experience to install systems for auditing all of their safety requirements and ensuring HIQA compliance eventually becoming their Quality and Safety Co Ordinator, the Safeguarding Officer for the residential centre, a Team Lead providing supervision, reviewing incident and also an in-house trainer.

After doing a self-reflective piece Verena realised that Neurodivergence autism had affected members of her own family. She attended Autism studies at night classes attached to UCC. She discovered Behaviour Detectives were looking for a team member to support management and administration structures and found her values and interests aligned with ours.

Having secured a post with us in early 2024 she has become an integral part of the organisation aiding the Clinical and Operations Director to install new systems of management, governance and safeguarding while liaising with on a daily basis with Therapists our Consultants and the families we work with.

It needed input and bodies to grow and provide a greater service. He is applying skills in recruitment, business development, commercial and product development, along with the business administration. He will also pursue a qualification as a Registered Behaviour Technician (RBT) as a way of deepening his understanding of the practice. 

Patrick’s work in children’s services spans from 1985. He is vastly experienced in the fields of trauma, attachment, and therapeutic work. He has held roles as a clinician, Director, CEO, and consultant. His services have been provided in Ireland, Australia, Japan, UK, Romania, and Portugal, among others. Therapeutic models that Patrick has worked on have gained widespread recognition. He is the author of numerous papers and books.