Team Members
RiVeR Project Management Team
Jill Atkinson
Head of Section of Midwifery, DkIT
RiVeR Project Team Members
RiVeR Project Steering Committee
The steering committee has an all-Island profile and includes experts in the area of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence representing a range of organisations.The steering committee will inform the development and implementation of the RiVeR Project and provide strategic focus, vision and oversight to support all aspects of this ground-breaking initiative.
Geordie has been working in the Community/Voluntary sector for 20 years. His education background includes a MSc in Conflict Resolution. His past employment has included work with ex/political prisoners/combatants, cross-border youth work, local youthwork in Louth with a focus on young offenders and more recently targeting adults with a history of repeat-offending under the Joint Agency Response to Crime programme (JARC).
Dr. Michelle Walsh completed her PhD within the Unesco Child and Family Research Centre in NUI Galway. She undertook a nationwide study which looked at the Effects and Understanding of Sexual Harassment among the Irish Adolescent population. The findings from this study were launched in July, 2021 by RCNI, entitled Storm and Stress and can be found on the RCNI website. Michelle holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Supervision and Professional Practice and is also a fully accredited psychotherapist and clinical supervisor.
Michelle worked with RCNI (Rape Crisis Networks Ireland), as the Clinical Project Lead, on the Clinical Innovation Project, evaluating Counsellors and Survivors experiences of working online and also quantifying counsellors training needs and developing programmes to address these deficits. The research emerging from this project, entitled “A Safer Space”, was published in 2022. A former Board Member of Rape Crisis Midwest, Michelle previously worked there as the Training and Development manager, delivering and developing training for all sectors of the community in relation working with and understanding Sexual Violence and its impacts. Michelle is the current CEO of MOVE Ireland, a national perpetrator program aimed at tackling DSGBV.
Additionally, Michelle has trained support workers for Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Limerick. She is aware of the many of issues faced by Clinicians who work with, and Survivors who have experienced, sexual violence. Michelle is passionate about preventing, and ameliorating, the harm of sexual, domestic, and gender-based violence. 
Ann has been involved with Women’s Aid Dundalk since 2004 and has worked in a variety of roles including, volunteer support worker, administrator & development cross border project worker and chairperson. In 2016 Ann retired from the board and in 2017 she took on the role of Services Manager. Ann holds a BA in Business (Management Studies) and a Higher National Diploma in Community Development.
Ann is also currently serving as Chairperson with Safe Ireland National Social Change Agency CLG. 
I am an accredited Integrative Psychotherapist based in Galway city with a Masters in Gestalt Adolescent Psychotherapy. Over the past 17 years I have worked in Galway Rape Crisis Centre and in Private Practice with Young People and their parents. Currently, I am working in the Student Counselling service of the University of Galway, on a full-time basis. Within this position, I play a key role on the University’s Sexual Violence Harassment Prevention & Response Committee, in addition to being a member of the Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education Ireland (PCEHI) Executive Committee. I hold a particular interest in Sexual Violence education and prevention. In line with this I have extensively collaborated with Active*Consent on various different Education programmes including developing and delivering a First Point of Contact (Disclosure) Training, with my colleagues in Galway Rape Crisis Centre, for Students and Staff across the third level sector, on a national basis. 
Joanne Murphy is an experienced manager with a demonstrated history of working in the child and family, training and addiction sectors. Skilled in project management, policy development, cross sectoral partnerships, and strategic service delivery. She has a strong educational background with a postgraduate Diploma focussed on Public Health and Health Promotion and a B.Sc. in Community Youth Work from University of Ulster, Jordanstown. In her current role, as Children and Young People’s Services Committee, Coordinator, she is involved in bringing a diverse group of agencies together in Louth to engage in joint planning and coordination of services for children and young people. Her role aids communication, enhances responsiveness and assists in ensuring effective implementation of policy through to outcomes focused provision. 
María currently works as LGBTI+ & DSGBV Health Coordinator in the HSE National Social Inclusion Office. As part of her dual role, María is responsible for the coordination of the implementation of HSE actions in relation to the First National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy as well as the Third DSGBV National Strategy. In relation to the latter, she is responsible for the design, coordination and implementation of the HSE National Training Strategy for Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence. Due to her vast experience working in addiction services, prior to her current role, María has also been involved in international projects and initiatives focused on the intersectionalities between drug use and gender/LGBTI+ identities. María holds an MSc in Health Psychology and an MSc in Gender Studies. 
Áine Costello is National Coordinator of Barnardos’ National Childhood Domestic Abuse Project. Áine has been working in the area of social care for the past 20 years and with Barnardos for the last 15 years in both family support capacity and as coordinator for the TLC Kidz programme, working exclusively with children and mothers who have experienced domestic violence. She took on the role of National Coordinator almost 3 years ago, and has been working towards increasing the visibility of childhood domestic abuse and to support a collective and collaborative approach to identifying the needs of children 
Mary McDermott is CEO of Safe Ireland and Adjunct Professor, School of Applied Social Studies, UCC. Her work focuses on the connection between personal and social change; on sex, gender and sexuality-based violence; and supporting survivors and services at frontline community level.