John’s clinical experience started in 1996 as a volunteer with Ireland’s first Addiction Harm reduction service  “The Merchants Quay Project”. He was quickly promoted to a full-time position. While there he worked in the full spectrum of addiction services including;  Crisis intervention  Needle exchange / Court advocacy / Methadone maintenance support and Detoxification. He progressed on to lead a team of 20 staff as the Manager of The Merchants Quay 12 week residential Heroin addiction treatment program. 

This program was very progressive at the time as it was the only Harm Reduction Addiction treatment facility in Ireland. The programme comprised of a residential 3 week methadone detoxification period followed by 9 weeks of intensive group therapy and subsequent aftercare support to maintain abstinence. 

It was as Manager of this treatment centre that John became intrigued with Transference and Countertransference in the clinical setting of a Residential facility. 

The manifestations in the clinic setting of extreme toxic emotions such as rage, hostility, anger, and blame presented problems for staff in relating to this aspect of the addicted / detoxifying clients’ personality. He noticed that this could also arouse equally powerful emotions in staff, whose most common response might be to retaliate–overtly or covertly-against the resident. 

For the staff, the task of providing the qualities of empathy and compassion that are necessary for a therapeutic alliance to be established with the client is difficult when he or she behaves in such a way that this empathic quality in staff is continually being undermined and jeopardized. This presents a monumental challenge, to avoid becoming locked into an equally hostile countertransference relationship.

John believes that understanding how clients establish negative transference can lead to effective and ethical treatment management and the prevention of transference psychoses. Equally important is to understand the countertransference and what the client is “doing” to or “projecting into” the staff member.  To help him gain a deeper understanding of these dynamics John undertook a Masters in Group Psychodynamics with The University of the West of England. 

In 2000 John left  Merchants Quay to set up in Private Practise. Working closely with Dr. Ann Leader, Ireland’s foremost Psychiatrist in the treatment of Eating Disorders the practice expanded into a Service for Eating Disorders called the Kildare Street Clinic. John completed specialist training in Bulimic Disorders with the Maudsley Hospital Eating Disorder Service in London. He also completed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy training with the Maudsley Hospital.

In 2001 John began working for Stephanie Regan and Associates. This service specialized in providing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder interventions to organizations whose staff were adversely affected by traumatic work situations. John provided Critical Incident Stress debriefing to clients including Bank staff affected by bank raids.  Securicor staff who had been held up at gunpoint. Aer Lingus flight crew affected by Critical incidents, NGO organizations such as Concern and GOAL whose staff required debriefing following harrowing work in war-torn areas such as Bosnia and Rwanda.