Staff

Declan Coogan

Lecturer

MA in Social Work 2nd Year Co-ordinator; Tutor

BA (Theology) St. Patrick’s College, Carlow
MSW/DipSW Queen’s University Belfast/ Central Council for Social Work Education and Training in Social Work
MSc (Systemic Psychotherapy) University College Dublin and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH)
PG Dip. (Systemic Psychotherapy) MMUH

Office: 223 Aras Moyola
Telephone: 353 (0)91 495373
Email: declanp.coogannuigalway.ie

Member of the Children, Youth and Families Research Cluster (the Child and Family Research Centre)

Profile

Prior to joining NUIG, Declan worked for over nine years as a senior social worker as part of the community based multi-disciplinary Mater Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Dublin. He was also seconded to the multi-disciplinary Northside Inter-Agency Project (NIAP), continuing his commitment to the prevention of sexual abuse and intervention in response to young people who have sexually abused. He is a member of the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) and a Systemic / Family Therapist registered with the Family Therapy Association of Ireland (FTAI).

Following qualification in social work, Declan worked for almost four years as a social worker in community care child protection and family welfare teams. He has been a practice teacher for social work students on child protection/ family welfare and on CAMHS placements. He has worked closely with colleagues, families and young people in group work programmes. He has also collaborated with colleagues on undergraduate and post graduate training programmes for courses designed for social workers, social care workers, nurses, doctors and others.

Teaching

Masters of Arts in Social Work programme: Declan co-ordinates and is involved in teaching in the following modules: SP 601 – Social Work Practice 1; SP 609 – Contemporary Social Issues; SP615 Crime Reduction & Probation Work; SP 612 – Research Dissertation; Social Work Practice 2.

Undergraduate courses:

• SP 705 - Revisiting Violence: Aggression and Abuse in Contemporary Irish Family and Institutional Life.
• SP235 – Social Issues and Policy Responses (Young People and Sexual Behaviour Problems: Contexts and Correlates).

Research Interests

Research interests include parent abuse (also known as child to parent violence, where individuals under the age of 18 years old use violence at home) violence within the family and the effective engagement of clients who deny that there is a problem leading to the involvement of social work or allied services. Declan is also interested in the effective engagement of individuals who deny that he/she has any role in changing the circumstances that led to a referral to services (sometimes called resistant clients or clients in denial). He continues to have an interest in work with young people who have sexually abused and their families.

Selected Publications

Coogan, D (2011) Child to Parent Violence – Challenging Perspectives on Family Violence. Child Care in Practice Vol.17, No. 4: 347-358.

Until relatively recently, the focus of research, policy and intervention responses to abuse and violence within families has been almost exclusively on the behaviour of adults rather than on the violence within families carried out by children and adolescents. As a consequence, the aggressive and violent behaviour of children and adolescents at home has received scant attention in practice, policy and research literature and this form of family violence remains poorly understood.

This paper aims to broaden discussions about violence and abuse in families by examining the use of violence by children and young people at home towards parents through a review of the relevant literature.  Dilemmas of definition will be explored, including distinctions between abusive behaviour and what could be termed as “normal” conflict between parents and their children during adolescence. Social and cultural factors contributing to the lack of attention to child-to-parent violence will be explored. The “Tackling Violence at Home” Strategy (DHSSPS 2005) in Northern Ireland and the “National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence 2010-2014” (Cosc 2010) in the Republic of Ireland will be examined for policy and practice guidance in relation to child-to-parent violence. It will be suggested that conventional social and cultural assumptions in relation to children, power and violence within families lead to challenges in the detection and development of effective responses to child-to-parent violence.  Attention will also be drawn to the potential that may lie within established domestic violence frameworks for policy and practice development and to promising research and practice interventions.

Coogan, D (2009) Protection Responsibilities and Hope: Dilemmas when working with families when children assault their parents/carers. The Irish Social Worker Journal. Autumn/Winter.

Coogan, D (2005) Responding to Domestic Abuse – Stepping Outside the Therapist’s Zones of Confidence and Competence. Feedback: the Journal of the Family Therapy Association of Ireland. Vol. 10. No. 3: 8-14.

Coogan, D. & Sharry, J. (2004) Working with Child Abuse and Neglect. In Sharry, J (Ed.) Counselling Children, Adolescents and Families. London: Sage, pp 158-170.

Coogan, D (2002) Side Stepping the Seductive - How to Look for the Newness that Makes a Difference. Eisteach - Journal of Counselling and Therapy. Spring 2002 issue.

Coogan, D & Ryan, M (2001) Taking the Next Step - Towards a Proposal for Working with Men Who are Violent in their Intimate Relationships. Irish Social Worker Journal. Vol. 19, No. 2-3.

Supervision of Research

MA in Social Work Dissertations

2011

Michelle Haverty. An Exploratory Study of the Resettlement of Sex Offenders from Prison to the Community.

Maire Hoban. “The Search for Status, He Kept Up My Hope” – An Exploration of the Relevance of Hope in Recovery in Adult Mental Health Social Work Practice.

David O’Reilly. Is there Power in Empowerment? A Critique of the Empowerment in Adult Mental Health Services in the Republic of Ireland.

Elaine Quinn. “We Make the Path by Walking” – Female Perpetrated Child Sexual Abuse in Ireland: Professionals’ Perspective.

2010

Laura Casserly. Communication Matters with Children in Social Work Practice: Knowing, Being and Doing.

Jonathan O’Rourke. Practitioners Perceptions of Working with Young People Presenting with Problematic Sexual Behaviour and the Role of Restorative Justice.

MA in Family Support Studies

2011

Mary Barry. Working Towards an Inclusive Practice in a Refuge Service – Bringing Fathers and Children Together.

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