Lead the Way

James Callaghan is an experienced CBT therapist, EMDRconsultant, and mental health nurse with over a decade working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). He is the founder of Capital Psychotherapy, offering therapy for children, adolescents, and adults, andrecently launched Minds in Schools, a training initiative supporting parents and teachers with practical CBT strategies.
This year, James published his first book, LeoRoars: A Brave Lion’s Guide to Overcoming Panic Attacks, endorsed by Dr. Judith Beck of the Beck Institute, USA. The book is the first in his planned CBT series designed to help children directly while also giving parents practical skills to support them. James is here to talk about anxiety and panicattacks, emetophobia; fear of vomiting, school refusal and how to have difficult conversations about potential diagnoses with parents.  
https://mindsinschools.ie/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-callaghan-094960131/?originalSubdomain=ie

Having spent many years as a primary school teacher, FionaForman is passionate about placing well-being at the heart of school life. For the past few years, promoting this has been her focus- through her books, media contributions, and training sessions. She holds an M. Sc. in Applied Positive Psychology, the science of well-being, from the University of East London.
Her programmes include Weaving Well-Being, a positive mental health programme for primary school children which is now in use in the majority of Irish Primary Schools, and also Wired for Well-Being, her programme for second-level students.
Her Junior programme, Welcome to Well-Being, has beenrecently released in Ireland and abroad.
https://www.instagram.com/
fionaformanwellbeing/
https://fionaformanwellbeing.com/books-and-programs/
[email protected]

Katrina Crilly is Principal & Founder -The Real Me Academy Educating children aged 4–18 to build confidence, emotional resilience & lifelong thinking habits through a digital-first, research-backed platform. She hold a Master’s in Collaborative Leadership and has contributed to severaleducational advisory committees, working closely with the Department of Education and the Education and Training Inspectorate in Northern Ireland. Her passion has always been to look beyond curriculum targets—to see the wholechild. She has developed the first curriculum-integrated subject embedding personal growth as part of what children learn every day in response to what she feels are inadequate wellbeing programmes.
https://therealmeacademy.com/
https://therealmeacademy.com/contact-us/
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/katrina-crilly-34270560

Dr. Clara is a Chartered Psychologist with the Psychology Society of Ireland, (PSI) and the British Psychology Society, (BPS)Dr. Clara has over 25 years of experience of working in disability and special education settings. Past experiences include work in residential settings for adults with IntellectualDisability, Special schools and alternative education provision settings for ‘at risk’ youths. Additionally, Dr. Clara was an NCSE advisor, (Behavior and Well-being) for over 5 years. Her personal experiences navigating her way through neurodivergence, physical disability, chronic illness and additional educational needs, deepened her understanding of how complex and frustrating this new world can seem to parents. Her services include parent support consults, Teen coaching for confidence, anxiety, neurodivergence, Post diagnosis support for Autistic teens and adults, ADHD Parent Coaching, Supporting Neurodiverse families, Promoting Well-being and Mental Fitness and Coaching for Health & Well-being.
Link to the book she has contributed to:
https://www.otb.ie/shop/speech-language-therapists/books-manuals-slt/it-takes-all-kinds-of-minds/

Link to her website:
https://claraobyrne.ie/

Coran Swayne is an administrative Deputy Principal in East Cork Community Special School and a lecturer in Educational Leadership and Coaching in Education at University College Cork. He is currently completing a PhD on coaching cultures in primary schools, exploring how leadership, teachers, and policy shape this work across Ireland, England, and Michigan. His article, “Cultivating Coaching Cultures in Schools: Insights from School Leaders” has been recently published in the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education (IJMCE)
Link to article: 'Cultivating coaching cultures in schools: insights from school leaders'Coran Swayne and Joseph MoynihanSchool of Education, University College Cork, Cork, Irelandhttps://www.emerald.com/ijmce/article-pdf/doi/10.1108/IJMCE-01-2025-0008/10764836/ijmce-01-2025-0008en.pdf
Link to Summer course Coran offers:
https://summercpd.ie/courses/coaching-conversations/