Meet the Team
Brian Holohan
MA, BA(Hons), MIACP
CEO and co-founder
Brian has 10 years clinical experience as a Counsellor, Psychotherapist and Supervisor. He has spent 5 years in clinical management, and 9 years in the charity sector in the provision of counselling, psychotherapy, and development and training of therapists working therapeutically online. During this time he worked with the HSE National Office of Suicide Prevention and the Department of Health Slaintecare Integration Fund. He also brings 18 years of operational and senior management roles in industry to his current role as CEO of 2gether Online.
In December 2020, Brian was appointed by Mary Butler, TD, Minister for Mental Health and Older People, to the Specialist Group Panel of the National Implementation Monitoring Committee (NIMC). The NIMC is collectively responsible for driving and overseeing the long-term implementation of the recommendations of the national mental health policy Sharing the Vision – A Mental Health Policy for Everybody.
Brian holds an honours degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy; a Master’s degree in Sexuality Studies; a Diploma in Addiction Psychology, and a Diploma in Counsellor Supervision. He is currently embarking on a Master’s in Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy in September 2021. He has a keen interest in men’s mental health, gender and sexuality, LGBTQ+ and suicide prevention.
Karen Vermaak
MA, BA(Hons), Dip.
Head of Development and Policy
Karen has worked as a mental health professional in the area of suicide prevention and mental health promotion for almost two decades. She was part of the team that established The National Office for Suicide Prevention in 2005. She also assisted in the implementation of the first Strategy for the Prevention of Suicide in Ireland – Reach Out.
She has extensive experience and knowledge in developing and delivering online mental health services and training. She previously developed online support for NGOs working in the areas of LGBT Youth, online chat support and bereavement. Karen also managed a not-for-profit online mental health service groups support and 1-1 online counselling sessions using video, phone and/or instant messaging.
Karen is a CBT therapist with expertise in working with a wide range of mental health issues. She has a Masters degree in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a B.A. (Hons) in Psychology and a Diploma in Counselling Psychology. She has also completed online counselling skills training, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), Children First Training and has completed a certificate for counsellors working with LGBT clients.
Karen is a member of the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI), the Association for Counselling & Therapy Online (ACTO), and the International Society for Mental Health Online (ISMHO).
Colin Shaw
MSc, BA(Hons), FTAI, ICP
Clinical Manager Child and Family Services
Colin is a fully accredited and registered member of the Family Therapy Association of Ireland, the Irish Council of Psychotherapy, and the European Council of Psychotherapy. He has 17 years experience working in a diverse range of sectors across community, residential, voluntary and NGO. Colin has worked in a number of clinical settings offering therapeutic interventions to families, adolescents, couples and individuals. These include the Clanwilliam Institute, HSE Counselling in Primary Care (CIPC) , Genesis Family Therapy Service, HSE RIAN Counselling Service, Tusla school completion project and other private practice settings.
Our Board of directors
Dr. Barbara Moore
Clinical Director – Adult Mental Health
Barbara Moore is a social science researcher, currently working with the NCCA funded Children’s School Lives (CSL) national study, in the School of Education, UCD. She completed her own Irish Research Council funded PhD study on contemporary fatherhood in 2018. Barbara is also a trained integrative therapist (DBS, IICP colleges,) and graduated with a 1:1 award in her counselling and psychotherapy diploma. Drawing from her expertise as a sociologist, Barbara has worked as a counsellor in low-cost counselling centres in Dublin, since 2008, supporting clients to understand both their own personal journey, and the impact of Irish social structural influences on their lives. Provision of high-level ethical standards and client-led services has been a central focus of Barbara’s counselling career. Her most recent work, reporting to government departments and agencies, (HSE, DES, NCCA) has included; exploratory provision of online counselling services in Ireland, and Irish child/family experiences and wellbeing, during the Covid19 school closure.
(Treasurer)
Roisin Doolan, BA (Hons), PG.Dip
Director – Communications and Community Engagement
Roisin has 10 years’ experience in youth mental health programmes and initiatives, both in Ireland and Australia. This includes the HSE National Office of Suicide Prevention, the Department of Health, ReachOut and turn2me. Roisin is a qualified project manager and health professional with a specialisation in Health Promotion and has conducted research on reaching marginalised young people for HSE National Office of Suicide Protection. She has presented at many conferences, including the International Association for Youth Mental Health.
(Company Secretary)
Dr Neil Adamson, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
Clinical Director – Child & Adolescent Mental Health
Dr Adamson has over three decades of experience leading multidisciplinary teams and providing in-patient services at Crumlin, Temple St and St John of Gods hospitals. Neil qualified in medicine from Trinity College Dublin. Having worked in paediatrics in Dublin, and obtained a Diploma in Child Health, he did his psychiatric training in Edinburgh. He completed the specialist exams in psychiatry (MRCPsych) and then trained as a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Oxford. His first consultant post was in Bermuda where he set up the first child psychiatry service in that country. On returning to Ireland, he was employed by Limerick University Hospital/HSE to develop a new child psychiatry service in that region. He then returned to Dublin and worked for 16 years as a consultant paediatric liaison psychiatrist in the Dept. of Child Psychiatry in Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
Neil is currently employed as a consultant in St. John of God’s hospital adolescent in-patient unit. He has extensive experience in working with multi-disciplinary teams and liaising with specialised services and community services including social work departments, schools, and probation services. In addition to assessment and treatment of ‘at risk’ and acute mentally ill children, Neil provides medium and long-term therapy to children and adolescents, using a psychotherapeutic approach.
Neil’s teaching experience has been at under-graduate and postgraduate level and has included Edinburgh University, Oxford University, Indiana University (extra-mural course), Limerick University, Trinity College Dublin, and University College Dublin. He has carried out and published collaborative research in deliberate self-harm and an epidemiology survey of the child psychiatry needs of the community. He complies annually with the requirements of the Irish College of Psychiatrists and the Medical Council for Continual Professional Development.
Jennifer Griffin, MIAHIP MSC MA PGDip PGCert BA (Hons).
Director
With over twenty years of high-level management and dedicated service in the fields of mental health, eMental health and public service broadcasting in Ireland and the UK, Jennifer brings a wide range of of governance, management, clinical and communications expertise to 2gether Online. An experienced director, general manager, psychotherapist, counsellor, educator and executive multimedia producer Jennifer has worked with BBC television, Channel 4, RTE, the HSE, The Department of Health, MyMind, turn2me and Human Dynamic EAP.
Jennifer serves as Diocesan Director for ACCORD Dublin, and maintains a clinical practice. She lectures and is conducting post-graduate research within the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin. She was appointed by the Minister for Health to Ireland’s multi-profession Health Regulator, CORU, and continues to serve on its first Counsellor and Psychotherapist Registration Board.
(Chairperson)