Eoin’s educational and career pathway has been heavily influenced by his interest in psychosocial concepts and issues. He is particularly interested in the historical development of “mental illness”, alongside social trends, attitudes and critical perspectives towards mental health and service-user led movements.
Since qualifying as an occupational therapist Eoin has worked both academically and clinically. Eoin worked as a teaching and research assistant within the department of Clinical Therapies at the University of Limerick. During this time, Eoin alongside his colleague, designed, developed and implemented an innovative 10-week occupational therapy community mental health programme called “Activate II”. This programme was designed for unemployed people and was based on the concepts of Lifestyle Redesign ©. Activate II was nominated and shortlisted for the Anne Beckett award in 2013.Clinically, Eoin has worked across various psychosocial settings including adult and older adult inpatient and community mental health, as well as youth and young adult community mental health.
Eoin came to UCC in January 2015 to pursue his PhD, exploring an occupational perspective of gender with focus on the occupations of people who identify as transgender. Since then Eoin has lectured across various modules and worked with the practice education team from 2015 to 2016. In 2016 Eoin joined the department as a full-time lecturer assuming the position of year 3 coordinator.
In June 2017, Eoin was made Professional Programme Director of the undergraduate course. Eoin continues to lecture across years 3 and 4 of the of the occupational science and occupational therapy programme. Eoin’s teaching in Year 3 focuses on the psychosocial aspects of persons, environments and occupations of adults and older adults. Within year 4, Eoin is the module leader for Integrated Professional Practice, whereby students collate their learning from previous years and apply it to new and increasingly complex issues and concepts. Students also explore and critique the value and impact of legislation on therapy and are provided an opportunity to explore non-traditional and emerging areas for occupational therapy. Eoin has provided research supervision to both master’s level and undergraduate level students.
Eoin completed the certificate in teaching and learning with University College Cork in 2017. He completed training with the Centre for Occupational Therapy Education (COTE) in Colorado State University, USA on the Subject-Centred, Integrative Learning Model for Occupational Therapy (SCIL-OT). A model designed to foster students’ understanding of occupational therapy’s distinct value.
In 2018, Eoin was a successful recipient of the UCC President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for his development and delivery of an innovative and multifaceted teaching and learning event, “Death Week”.
Key areas of teaching and research interest to Eoin are gender and sexuality, mental health and Madness, death and dying, spirituality, human rights-based healthcare, and social justice with emphasis on psycho-social issues.
Biography
Eoin Gorman attained his master’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of Limerick in 2010. Eoin also holds a master’s in anthropology and a bachelors’ degree in psychology. He is currently undertaking a PhD exploring the lived experience of people who self-identify as transgender in Ireland.Eoin’s educational and career pathway has been heavily influenced by his interest in psychosocial concepts and issues. He is particularly interested in the historical development of “mental illness”, alongside social trends, attitudes and critical perspectives towards mental health and service-user led movements.
Since qualifying as an occupational therapist Eoin has worked both academically and clinically. Eoin worked as a teaching and research assistant within the department of Clinical Therapies at the University of Limerick. During this time, Eoin alongside his colleague, designed, developed and implemented an innovative 10-week occupational therapy community mental health programme called “Activate II”. This programme was designed for unemployed people and was based on the concepts of Lifestyle Redesign ©. Activate II was nominated and shortlisted for the Anne Beckett award in 2013.Clinically, Eoin has worked across various psychosocial settings including adult and older adult inpatient and community mental health, as well as youth and young adult community mental health.
Eoin came to UCC in January 2015 to pursue his PhD, exploring an occupational perspective of gender with focus on the occupations of people who identify as transgender. Since then Eoin has lectured across various modules and worked with the practice education team from 2015 to 2016. In 2016 Eoin joined the department as a full-time lecturer assuming the position of year 3 coordinator.
In June 2017, Eoin was made Professional Programme Director of the undergraduate course. Eoin continues to lecture across years 3 and 4 of the of the occupational science and occupational therapy programme. Eoin’s teaching in Year 3 focuses on the psychosocial aspects of persons, environments and occupations of adults and older adults. Within year 4, Eoin is the module leader for Integrated Professional Practice, whereby students collate their learning from previous years and apply it to new and increasingly complex issues and concepts. Students also explore and critique the value and impact of legislation on therapy and are provided an opportunity to explore non-traditional and emerging areas for occupational therapy. Eoin has provided research supervision to both master’s level and undergraduate level students.
Eoin completed the certificate in teaching and learning with University College Cork in 2017. He completed training with the Centre for Occupational Therapy Education (COTE) in Colorado State University, USA on the Subject-Centred, Integrative Learning Model for Occupational Therapy (SCIL-OT). A model designed to foster students’ understanding of occupational therapy’s distinct value.
In 2018, Eoin was a successful recipient of the UCC President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for his development and delivery of an innovative and multifaceted teaching and learning event, “Death Week”.
Research Interests
Eoin’s research interests centre on adopting an occupational perspective across a variety of areas strongly influenced by counter-culture and service-user perspectives. As an evidence-based lecturer, Eoin's areas of research interest are interconnected with his teaching interests; gender and sexuality, mental health and Madness, death and dying, spirituality, human rights-based healthcare, and social justice with emphasis on psycho-social issues.Publications
Book Chapters
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2019) | 'Critical Pedagogy in Occupational Therapy' Eoin Gorman (2019) 'Critical Pedagogy in Occupational Therapy' In: Harry Gijbels, Lydia Sapouna, Gary Sidley (eds). Inside Out and Outside In: Transforming Mental Health Practices. Manchester: PCCS Books. [Details] |
Podcast - Media
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2019) | OT After Dark: A Little Foreign Relations in Arizona. Karla Reese, Jen Soros, Karen McCarthy, Eoin Gorman & Rebecca Twinley (2019) OT After Dark: A Little Foreign Relations in Arizona. USA: Podcast - Media [Details] |
Professional Activities
Honours and Awards
| Year | Title | Awarding Body | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | UCC President's Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning | UCC |
Conference Contributions
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2019) | Death Week: A multifaceted learning event for occupational science and occupational therapy students, Eoin Gorman (2019) “Death Week” is designed to provide an opportunity to reflect on and explore personal values, understanding and meaning of death and dying from an occupational perspective before considering the role of occupational therapy in this area. “Death Week” comprises integrated teaching and learning methods utilising the theory of multiple intelligences, various entry points to learning and universal design. Student feedback, reflections and assessment as/for learning are embedded in its’ design. [Oral Presentation], Death Week: A multifaceted learning event for occupational science and occupational therapy students, Society for the Study of Occupation Annual Conference, Arizona, USA . [Details] | |
| (2019) | Death Week: A multifaceted learning event for occupational science and occupational therapy students, Eoin Gorman (2019) “Death Week” is designed to provide an opportunity to reflect on and explore personal values, understanding and meaning of death and dying from an occupational perspective before considering the role of occupational therapy in this area. “Death Week” comprises integrated teaching and learning methods utilising the theory of multiple intelligences, various entry points to learning and universal design. Student feedback, reflections and assessment as/for learning are embedded in its’ design. [Oral Presentation], Death Week: A multifaceted learning event for occupational science and occupational therapy students, College of Medicine & Health: Teaching & Learning Showcase, University College Cork, Ireland . [Details] | |
| (2019) | Embedding critical perspectives of Madness within the curriculum of health and social sciences students: challenges and opportunities within the neo-liberal university, Eoin Gorman & Elaine Ballantyne (2019) Activist academics have attempted to challenge neoliberalism in higher education through pedagogical and research engagement with social movements(Scandrett and Ballantyne 2019). This session aims to discuss two examples of embedding critical perspectives of madness within the curriculum of Health and Social Sciences students in two university settings in Edinburgh and Cork. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], Embedding critical perspectives of Madness within the curriculum of health and social sciences students: challenges and opportunities within the neo-liberal university, Critical Perspectives in Mental Health Annual Conference, Cork, Ireland . [Details] | |
| (2019) | Exploring Irish Occupational Therapy Students’ Perspectives of Death and Dying Before and After Participating in “Death Week”, O’Geran, E., Fanning, M., & Gorman, E. (2019) The University College Cork (UCC) third year psychosocial module coordinator designed three educational components to address death and dying for occupational therapy (OT) students referred to as ‘Death Week’. The purpose of this study is to explore Irish occupational therapy students’ perspectives of death and dying and how an occupational therapy curriculum in an Irish university prepares students for clinical work. [Poster Presentation], Exploring Irish Occupational Therapy Students’ Perspectives of Death and Dying Before and After Participating in “Death Week”, Society for the Study of Occupation Annual Conference, Arizona, USA . [Details] | |
| (2017) | How is Gender Contemplated within Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy Literature?, Eoin Gorman, Alice Moore, Karen McCarthy & Jeanne Jackson (2017) Scoping Study exploring the concept of gender within occupational literature. [Oral Presentation], How is Gender Contemplated within Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy Literature?, SSO COnference - Seattle, USA . [Details] |
Employment
| Employer | Position | From / To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, University College Cork | Professional Programme Director, Lecturer (Yr 3 & Yr 4) | 01-JUL-16 / | |
| Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, University College Cork | Lecturer, Practice Tutor | 01-JAN-15 / 30-JUN-16 | |
| Headstrong - Jigsaw Kerry (Youth Community Mental Health) | Occupational Therapist | 01-MAY-14 / 31-DEC-14 | |
| Jonathon Swift Clinic, St. James' Hospital, Dublin (Adult Psychiatry, Acute-Impatient) | Occupational Therapist | 01-DEC-12 / 30-APR-14 | |
| University of Limerick | Activate II - Community Occupational Therapist | 01-MAR-12 / 31-MAY-12 | |
| University of Limerick, Education & Health Science | Occupational Therapy Research & Teaching Assistant | 01-SEP-11 / 30-SEP-12 |
Education
| Year | Institution | Qualification | Subject | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | UCC | Postgraduate Certificate | Teaching & Learning in Higher Education | |
| 2010 | University of Limerick | M.Sc Occupational Therapy | Occupational Therapy | |
| 2004 | Dublin Business School | Master of Arts | Master of Arts in Anthropology | |
| 2003 | Dublin Business School | Bachelor of Arts | Bachelor of Arts in Psychology |
Other Activities
| Description | |
|---|---|
Module undertaken as part of PhD. Module covered a range of themes including representations of women in history, literature and popular culture (music and film); gender and sexuality; women and politics; women, work and family, and gender violence. | |
Further Training • Trained in Recovery’s Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP; 2013) • Attended in-service training on Individual Care Planning (2013) • Lifestyle Design Workshop (2012) • Completed Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) with “LivingWorks” (2011) • “Research Centre for Education and Professional Practice” colloquium on professionalism (2011) | |
Awards/Achievements • Commended by and endorsement of Sleep Hygiene Posters for replication by the Mental Health Commission (2014) • Nominated and shortlisted for the AOTI Anne Beckett award (2013) • Presented research for “Activate II” at the AOTI conference (2013) • Developed an innovative community OT programme, “Activate II” in Limerick (2012) • Exhibited my M.Sc. research poster at the AOTI conference (2012) • Presented my research “Can Artists with Schizophrenia Experience Flow?” at the AOTI Mental Health Advisory Group Study Day (2011) | |
Module completed as part of PhD Facilitated by Karolinksa Institute, Sweden. The history of occupational science and its associated concepts are explored. Develop an occupational perspective to embed in teaching and research. | |
"How is gender contemplated within occupational science and occupational therapy literature?" SSO Conference - Seattle 2017 Presented emerging findings from a scoping study on the concept of gender and how it is understood, communicated and contemplated with occupational literature. |
Teaching Activities
Teaching Interests
Eoin’s teaching interests build on emphasising occupation as the core within the disciplines of occupational science and occupational therapy. Eoin is heavily influenced by his interest in psycho-social concepts and issues. Drawing upon his qualifications in psychology, anthropology and occupational therapy Eoin is particularly interested in the intersectional dynamics between people as occupational beings, socio-historically constructed concepts and the environments in which they are performed. Eoin's teaching philosophy aims to foster critical and reflective thinking among his students as future occupational practitioners.Key areas of teaching and research interest to Eoin are gender and sexuality, mental health and Madness, death and dying, spirituality, human rights-based healthcare, and social justice with emphasis on psycho-social issues.
Recent Postgraduates
| Graduation Year | Student Name | Institution | Degree Type | Thesis Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Jane Brownlee | NUI (UCC) | Participants’ perspectives of a ‘Lifestyle Management for Arthritis Programme’: experiences and implications for practice. |
Modules Taught
| Term (ID)) | Title | Link | Subject | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Person Environment Occupation V | OT3006 | Person Environment Occupation V | |
| 2021 | Integrated Professional Practice | OT4001 | Integrated Professional Practice |
Contact details
- Eoin Gorman
Professional Programme Director and Lecturer - eoin.gorman@ucc.ie
- Dept. of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy
Ground Floor
Brookfield Health Science Complex
College Road, Cork. - +353-21-490-1584