Kilkenny man retires from HSE post of regional director of counselling services
He was instrumental in the set up of the Self-Harm Intervention Programme (SHIP)
One of the HSE’s longest serving leaders in the south east has retired.
Clogh native Gerard O’Neill has been with the health organisation since the late 1990s.
The Director of Adult Counselling Services for Carlow and Kilkenny as well as Wexford, Waterford and South Tipperary had previously worked in the UK.
Colleagues hailed him for the work carried out across the region including his role in setting up the self-harm intervention programme (SHIP) which has proven successful in supporting short-term outcomes associated with longer-term reduced suicide risk, bringing a number of risk factors from well below to normal functioning levels over the course of treatment.
He also developed the therapeutic approach used in the SHIP service as part of completing his Doctorate in Psychotherapy.
More recently Gerard’s been based in offices at the Lismore Park Primary Care Centre in Waterford where he was joined by colleagues and his wife Assumpta to mark his retirement.
