Dr
Alice
McEleney
Academic biography
Dr Alice McEleney is Assistant Professor in Psychotherapy, Programme Chair of the Doctorate in Psychotherapy, and Faculty Member of the DCU Centre for Possibility Studies. The goal of her research is to expand the possibilities for psychological well-being by understanding peoples’ experiences of adversity, resilience, recovery, and psychological growth. Ongoing projects investigate the mental health and well-being of culturally diverse survivors of trauma, and the roles of mindfulness, compassion and embodiment in psychotherapy and psychological well-being.
Alice has a multi-disciplinary academic background, having completed a BA in psychology and French, postgraduate diploma in statistics, and PhD in cognitive psychology, all at Trinity College Dublin, a postdoctoral research fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at the National Institutes of Health and Carnegie Mellon University, and a professional diploma in psychotherapy at The Tivoli Institute. She worked as a lecturer in psychology at Northumbria University, Mary Immaculate College, The Open University, and the University of Limerick, before joining DCU in 2023.
Research interests
The goal of my research is to contribute to improving psychological well-being by understanding the processes involved in mental health, resilience, recovery, and psychological growth. I am interested in how people maintain good mental health and well-being in the face of adversity; how people recover from potentially traumatic experiences; and the positive psychological changes that may occur following life challenges.
A specific focus of my research is how mental health, resilience, and psychotherapeutic processes are affected by socio-emotional factors, such as social support, attachment bonds, and interpersonal emotion regulation. Another area of interest is the roles of mindfulness, compassion and embodiment in psychological well-being and psychotherapy.
My current research focuses on the role of psychotherapy in improving mental health and well-being in culturally diverse survivors of trauma. I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates interested in conducting research in this area and related topics.
I have supervised the following doctoral theses:
Supporting refugee clients therapeutically: An exploration of therapists' perspectives
Culturally adapted parenting interventions: Parent and practitioner experiences, especially those of Irish Travellers
Maintaining the self: A grounded theory study on how members of the Irish Traveller community attend to their mental health needs
I am currently co-supervising the following doctoral theses:
The lived experiences of psychotherapists providing psychotherapy in forensic mental health inpatient services
Talking the talk and walking the walk: A narrative inquiry into psychotherapists’ lived experience of resilience in clinical practice
Adverse childhood experiences and perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
The role of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in psychotherapy for comorbid substance use and trauma