Mental Health Engagement and Recovery Office

Michael Ryan was appointed as the National Head of Mental Health Engagement and Recovery in March 2019. Michael brings his own lived experience of mental health challenges and now enjoys a full life in recovery.

Michael has a strong track record in recovery practice and innovation having worked as an Advocate, and as a Peer Support Worker, before being appointed as Director of Advancing Recovery in Ireland.  His most recent role prior to taking up this appointment was as a Service Improvement Lead with the HSE where he worked on a number of innovative projects including being the lead author on the ‘Framework for Recovery in mental Health 2018 – 2020’.

Michael is married to Angela and has one son. He lives on the shores of Clew Bay near Westport in County Mayo.

The Mental Health Engagement and Recovery Office

The purpose of the Mental Health Engagement and Recovery Office is to support the Head in developing and driving core service improvement programmes to support the development of Recovery Oriented Services.

1. Recovery innovation https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/mental-health-services/advancingrecoveryireland/
2. Stakeholder Engagement https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/mental-health-services/mentalhealthengagement/apply/
3. Service Reform Fund https://www.genio.ie/our-work#SRF

The office of Mental Health Engagement and Recovery seeks to ensure that the voice of the service user, Family member and Carer inform the design delivery and evaluation of services through:

• Developing structures, systems and mechanisms to incorporate Service User, Family Member and Carer experience in service development and improvement in partnership with key stakeholders
• Empowering Service Users, their families and carers in their own recovery.
• Promoting partnership between all stakeholders to enable practices which deliver better recovery outcomes
• Continuing to develop structures and programmes to make recovery education accessible to all.
• Continuing to identify and promote national and international best practice and innovation in recovery and engagement.
• communicating effectively with all stakeholders

Our Team

• Michael Ryan (Head of MH Engagement and Recovery and member of the National Mental Health service, Senior Operations Team)
• Catherine O’Grady (National Engagement and Recovery Lead)
• Michael Norton (National Engagement and Recovery Lead)
• John Mc Cusker (Business Manager Mental Health Engagement and Recovery)
• Aisling Duffy (National communication and Development officer Mental Health Engagement and Recovery)
• Michaela Meenaghan (Admin Support)
• Debbie Murphy (Admin Support)

Our contact details are:

Mental Health Engagement & Recovery
Mental Health Services
St. Loman’s Hospital | Palmerstown | Dublin  | D20 HK69
Ph: 01 620 7303 or 087 2865346

mhengage@hse.ie or debbie.murphy5@hse.ie

Area Leads for Mental Health Engagement

^{Pictured are the Area Leads for Mental Health Engagement: back row (from left to right) Margaret Duggan, Aoife Boland, Charles Searson, Catherina Brady, Paul Fallon and Patrick Nwaokorie. Front row (from left to right) Colette Tuohy, Rory Doody and Duana McArdle.}

The Head is also supported by local Area Leads, each of whom are members of the Community Healthcare Organisation (CH0) Area Mental Health Management Team. In line with A Vision for Change the purpose of these posts are to consult and present the views of service users, family members and carers through engagement and partnership and to influence decision making at Area Management level. The Area Leads implement the development of structures that allow for the involvement of service users, family members and carers in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of mental health services.

This page was last updated 11th May 2020