Dr Lisa O'Reilly

About

Dr Lisa O'Reilly is a Child and Family Specialist with over 24 years' experience working with children and families, and is the Director of Gallore Child & Family Services. Her experience and practice span child protection social work, foster care, play therapy, training development and delivery, attachment research and parenting support.

Lisa has been practising as an independent social worker since January 2016. Her primary practice is representing the voice of children in court and advocating for their rights and best interests. Her work is guided by children's rights and their need to develop within the context of a secure attachment relationship, and — through extensive previous and ongoing research — is rooted in respectful, age-appropriate communication that moves beyond traditional ways of engaging with children.

Lisa is a leading specialist in the voice of the child, play-based engagement, emotional release and attachment theory, contributing to the development of these areas nationally and internationally through research and peer-reviewed publication. She is currently studying psychology and continues to research the child–caregiver relationship, given its significance for child development and lifelong mental wellbeing.

In 2016, Lisa authored the national training programme for social work and frontline practitioners on "Linking Attachment Theory to Practice" and was project lead on the Tusla National Development Team, also contributing to the national development team for "Direct Work with Children" — programmes that continue to support frontline social work, childcare and family-support practitioners.

She has taught as an associate guest lecturer at the University of Galway for approximately twelve years, specialising in child and family social work, communicating with children and attachment theory, including practice teaching for student social workers and marking for the Practice Teacher Training Diploma. She continues to collaborate with the University of Galway Child and Family Research Centre.

Lisa completed a two-year Diploma in Play Therapy at the Children's Therapy Centre, Westmeath, in 2008, and undertook her PhD at the University of Galway on the benefits of using play to engage with children in the child protection system. In 2008 she designed a Play Skills Training Programme and evaluated its efficacy over six months. Participating social workers reported that they:

• created child-friendly environments when meeting children;
• felt more confident engaging with children;
• found the assessment process more child-friendly;
• felt the voice of the child was better represented in assessments;
• felt more enthused about their work with children;
• used their time with children more playfully;
• preferred picture worksheets to promote communication;
• observed and joined children's play during home visits;
• found communication enhanced during playful meetings; and
• found communication enhanced during interviews with children.

Lisa completed Theraplay Level 1 training in 2015 — a therapeutic approach that strengthens attachment security between children and caregivers through playful engagement — and has developed caregiver programmes that support parents to meet their children's needs and resolve challenging behaviours in child-centred ways, rather than through punishment, shame, control or bribes.

Lisa has extensive experience as a Guardian ad Litem, representing the voices of children in court proceedings and making recommendations in their best interests, and continues to act as an independent advocate for children involved with child protection services and in foster care. She is a committee member of Irish Attachment in Action, has delivered workshops in play, attachment and emotional release for over twelve years, and facilitated an Attachment Play Workshop at the organisation's Annual Conference (the Helix, Dublin, 2019).