Emma McEvoy

BSc. (Hons) Occupational Therapy

Emma graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2020 with a B.Sc (Hons) Occupational Therapy. Throughout her studies she gained invaluable experience working with people of all ages in a variety of healthcare settings.

After completing her final academic placement with children and young adults, Emma quickly realised her passion for empowering young people to reach their full potential. She has been working in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for the past two years, where she supported young people to engage in meaningful activities. During her time in CAMHS, Emma worked with young people with a variety of mental health conditions, some of whom had an additional diagnosis of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and developmental coordination disorder. Emma takes pride in her commitment to providing client and family-centred care and recognising the unique strengths of each child. She developed a greater appreciation for trauma-informed care and uses these principles to guide her daily practice. Emma has also been exploring art as a therapeutic tool in her sessions and is currently working towards a professional certificate in Sensorimotor Art Therapy.

Emma has volunteering experience in Sunshine House, a summer camp hosted by St Vincent de Paul for children from a disadvantaged background, and has also volunteered in ChildVision, the National Education Centre for Blind Children. She is currently involved with Foróige’s Big Brother, Big Sister youth mentoring programme.

Emma is motivated to continue her professional development, with a particular focus on early intervention to ensure she provides a high standard of service delivery. Emma also plans to continue developing her interests in art and yoga, with the hope of integrating these into her work as an occupational therapist.

Specialist Training: Overview of Sensorimotor Art Therapy

(Currently working towards stage 1: Certificate in Initiatic Art Therapy)

The term “sensorimotor” has emerged as a term to describe body focused Psychotherapies that use a bottom-up approach. Instead of a cognitive top-down strategy, sensorimotor art therapy encourages the awareness of innate motor impulses in the muscles and viscera, also as heart rate and breath. The expression of these motor impulses followed by their perception through the senses, allows the development of new neurological pathways that can repair traumatic memories. Such an approach is capable of restoring wholeness and wellbeing.

Both guided imagery and Work at the Clay Field are sensorimotor, body-focused, trauma-informed art therapy approaches. They are not necessarily concerned with the image making process but support the awareness of body memories. Not the specific event or crisis becomes the focal point, but the option to new answers and solutions as they are embedded in the body’s felt sense.

Counselling techniques based on:

-Jungian Depth Psychology

-Body-focused trauma therapy; somatic experiencing

-Narrative therapy

-Process oriented therapy

-Sensorimotor approaches to psychotherapy

-Transpersonal psychology

-Active imagination

-Gestalt therapy