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4. Cindy O'Shea

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Biography

Cindy O'Shea is a staff member in the School of Applied Social Studies where she began her career as a tutor in 1997 and subsequently progressed to the role of Placement Supervisor and lecturer on the B.Soc Youth & Community Work team. Her work chiefly focusses on the development of competent professional practitioners for the Youth & Community Work sector and in the development of reflective practice.
Cindy began her career in UCC in the Centre for Adult Continuing Education in 1992, teaching part-time on a number of Community Based courses but based primarily with the then Certificate & Diploma Courses in Youth Work Practice and in Community Development. In 1995 she took her first part time contract as a Course Co-ordinator with Adult Education with responsibility for the Youth & Community Work programmes. Utilising her own area of expertise as a Community Youth Worker & Health Promotion Worker, she has been involved in the development of Community based approaches to education and specifically in the development of the Diploma in Non-Formal Guidance as well as the redevelopment of the Diploma in Youth & Community Work. The philosophy of community based teaching & learning has been extremely successful for the Centre for Adult Education in past years with 76 outreach Centres in the period of 2000 to 2004 and building on professional networks Cindy  successfully built the credibility of Diploma programs in both community based and professional settings.  Cindy has been involved in co-ordinating & teaching on a variety of both Adult Education, Outreach and Continuing Education courses through her career with Adult Ed, including, the Masters in Learning & Development Consultancy, Higher Diplomas in Personnel Management, H.Dip in Safety, Health & Welfare at Work and the H.Dip in Leadership Development (Pharma Chem), Diploma's in Employee Welfare at Work, Retail Management, Training & Development, Team Supervision (Pharma Production), Non Formal Guidance, Social Studies, Regional Studies, Youth & Community Work, Community Development and the Youth & Community Work with Physical Activity Certificate.
Since graduating from UCC in 1987 with a B.Soc. Sc (hons), she has completed a Higher Diploma in Counselling in 1995, graduating with first class honours, in 2002 she completed a M.Sc. in Training & Human Resource Management with the University of Leicester completing a thesis at Distinction level. Further study in 2004 led to a Post graduate Certificate in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education and a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching & Learning in 2010. She has completed a Diploma in Life and Business Coaching and has trained as an NLP Practitioner and has been committed to continuing professional development throughout her career by training and developing skills in governance, management and applied skills. She is currently working on a doctorate track, examining the experience of prisoners in the Irish prison system.
As a professional youth worker she has 10 years direct experience with Ogra Chorcai and Cork Aids Alliance, delivering Drugs Awareness programmes, Personal Development and Health Promotion with Young People, families and professional groups.  She has been a volunteer with the East Cork Adult Literacy Service as a literacy tutor and with Meals on Wheels. She has worked on the Boards of Management of Ogra Chorcai, The Irish Heart Foundation (Cork), Cork Aids Alliance, Youth Work Ireland Cork , Cork Volunteer Bureau, AVP and the General Service Board of AA Ireland. She has worked with a Community Development Organisation in Pune, India in the summer of 2008. Cindy has also been involved in the development of a number of resources for Young People on Substance Misuse, Health Awareness, and HIV, Aids and Sexuality with the National Youth Council of Ireland and is involved in consultancy work within the Voluntary sector as a facilitator, supervisor, trainer and researcher.  She has worked as a member of Youth Work Irelands Quality Standards Peer Assessment Committee with responsibility for the evaluation & assessment of a number of Youth Work Projects and Services around Ireland.
The value of volunteering and having lived experience motivated Cindy to become involved in Samaritans and she has held a number of senior roles in the organisation since 2012, including Branch Director, Regional Director for Ireland, Regional Prison Coordinator, Appeals Assessor and Deputy Chair of Regional Directors over 15 years. She has worked on a number of cross organisation committees developing policy around Safeguarding, Prison Work, Child Protection, Governance, Organisational design and problem solving.
Cindy is a regular speaker at conferences and has presented papers at conferences at National and international level.
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Research Interests

• Professionalisation of youth and community work.
• Reflective Practice and Professional Formation in the social professions
• Group Work Practice
• Group Work as an educational tool
• The experience of prisoners in the Irish prison System
• I am also a member of the 'Researching the Professions' and 'Children & Youth' research clusters of ISS21.

Contract Researchers

	Researcher Name	Project	Role	Funding Body
	Cindy O'Shea	Barriers to Male Participation in Adult Education	Postgraduate Researcher	UCC Strategic Research Fund
	Cindy O'Shea	An Evaluation of ABI Services in HSE Southern Region	Co Principal Investigator	Health Service Executive
	Cindy O'Shea	Needs Analysis of single parents under 24 on Great Island	Co Principal Investigator	Department of Education and Science
	Cindy O'Shea	Audit of Cork County Education Provision in 2005	Co Principal Investigator	Department of Education and Science
	Cindy O'Shea	Social Needs Analysis for Step Program in East Cork	Co Principal Investigator	Department of Education and Science

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Publications

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Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2016)	'Book Review: Schinkel, Marguerite (2014) Being Imprisoned; Punishment, Adaptation and Desistance' O'Shea, Cindy (2016) 'Book Review: Schinkel, Marguerite (2014) Being Imprisoned; Punishment, Adaptation and Desistance'. Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, Vol 16 (ISS.2) [DOI] [Details]

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Conference Publications

	Year	Publication
	(2022)	ICEMTL Barcelona O'Shea, C & O'Donovan D. (2022) Practice Teaching in the Pandemic -Creating constructive clinical practice learning environments through interactive multi media methods’ ICEMTL Barcelona [Details]
	(2022)	ETS Conference Berlin O'Shea, C . (2022) Becoming- the journey from knowledge to practice' ETS Conference Berlin [Details]
	(2019)	SOTL Conference Bilbao O'Shea, C & O'Donovan D. (2019) Developing the professional 'toolkit' - Making learning meaningful in applied youth and community work education' SOTL Conference Bilbao [Details]

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Published Reports

	Year	Publication
	(2008)	'Needs Analysis of single parents under 24 on Great Island'. O'Shea.C and Griffin, M. (2008) 'Needs Analysis of single parents under 24 on Great Island'. Family Support Network, Cork, Cork. [Details]
	(2006)	'Social Needs Analysis for Step Program in East Cork'. O'Shea.C and Griffin, M. (2006) 'Social Needs Analysis for Step Program in East Cork'. YMCA East Cork, Cork. [Details]
	(2006)	An Evaluation of ABI Services in HSE Southern Region'. O'Shea.C and Griffin, M. (2006) An Evaluation of ABI Services in HSE Southern Region'. HSE Regional ABI Committee, Cork. [Details]
	(2005)	Cork County Adult Education & Training Audit 2005'. O'Shea.C and Griffin, M. (2005) Cork County Adult Education & Training Audit 2005'. Cork County Development Board, Cork. [Details]
	(2004)	A Study of Barriers to Male Participation in Adult Education'. O'Shea, C & O''Faithigh, M.. (2004) A Study of Barriers to Male Participation in Adult Education'. Centre for Adult Continuing Education, UCC, Cork. [Details]

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Professional Activities

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Honours and Awards

	Year	Title	Awarding Body
	2022	Digital Badge	UCC
	2022	Digital Badge	UCC OVPTL
	2021	Digital Badge	UCC OVPTL
	2019	Gold Digital Badge	SPEEDS UCC
	2019	Bronze Digital badge	SPEEDS UCC
	2013	UCC Exceptional Citizen	UCC

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Professional Associations

	Association	Function	From / To
	Samaritans UK & Ireland	Deputy Chair of regional Directors	01-SEP-21 /
	CDYS	Board menber	01-SEP-22 /
	Samaritans Cork	Branch Director	01-JUL-12 / 01-JUL-15
	Samaritans Ireland	Regional Prison Support Officer	01-OCT-20 /
	Samaritans Ireland	Regional Director	01-OCT-17 / 07-APR-19
	Leargas	Committee Member	01-MAR-22 /
	NSETS	HEI representative	01-JUN-22 / 02-JUN-24
	AVP Ireland	Chair & Board Member	01-JAN-21 / 12-JUL-22
	GSBAA	External Trustee	01-MAR-20 /

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Committees

	Committee	Function	From / To
	UCC's Work Integrated Learning Project	Committee Member	2022 /
	Mediation Course in development in ACE	Chair	2022 /
	UCC's RPL Steering Group	Committee Member	2022 /
	EAAD Best (HSE South)	Steering Group Member	2021 /
	Professional Accredited Programmes and Work Placement Working Group (CACSSS)	Committee Member	2021 /
	National Suicide and Self Harm Committee of IPS	Committee Member	2020 /
	Mental Health Reform Prison Committee	Committee Member	2020 /
	Youth Work Educators Forum	Founder & Convenor	2017 /

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Employment

	Employer	Position	From / To
	ACE, University College Cork	Course Co-ordinator	01-SEP-09 / 30-JUN-14
	ACE, University College Cork	Course Co-ordinator	01-SEP-95 / 31-AUG-04
	Ogra Chorcai Ltd	Outreach Worker	01-JAN-88 / 31-AUG-95
	Cork Aids Alliance	Education Outreach Worker	01-SEP-95 / 01-SEP-97
	University College Cork	Lecturer & Practice Supervisor	01-SEP-04 /

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Education

	Year	Institution	Qualification	Subject
	2006	Coach Academy	NLP Practitioner	NLP Theory and Skills
	2010	UCC	Pg Dip TLHE	Teaching & Learning
	2005	UCC	PG Cert in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education	Teaching & Learning
	2002	University of Leicester	MSC. Training & HRM	Training & Human Resource Management
	1987	UCC	B.Soc. Sc.	Social Sciences
	2005	Coach Academy	Dip in Life and Business Coaching	Life and Business COaching
	1994	UCC	H.Dip Couns	Counselling

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Outreach Activities

	Description
	Supervisor & trainer for Voluntary sector agencies and Youth Work Practitioners. Speaker at Youth Work Events Erasmus Programme

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Other Activities

	Description
	External Examiner for Carlow IT 2013-16 and LIT Thurles Campus 2011-14

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Teaching Activities

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Teaching Interests

• Group Work & Facilitation
• Reflective Practice
• Professional Formation & Skills development
• Managing & developing Professional Practice in Youth & Community Work
• Peer Support and approaches to working in prison
• Experience of Prisoners within the prison system

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Recent Postgraduates

	Graduation Year	Student Name	Institution	Degree Type	Thesis Title
	2022	Aoife Talty	UCC		An Examination of the experience of Churchfield Community Trust during the Covid Pandemic
	2022	Nicole Nagle	NUI (UCC)		An analysis of the Irish Social Welfare System as it is Applied to the Direct Provision System, and the Overlapping of Human Rights Breaches.
	2022	Luke Conway	NUI (UCC)		Social Isolation Among the Elderly- an All-Ireland Comparative Study of Experiences in Urban & Rural Areas