Bronagh Starrs is a psychological consultant, clinical supervisor, writer, presenter and trainer based in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Additionally, she works as a consultant on Parenting for a number of families, schools and agencies. She works in both Irish and English and is a regular contributor to national media programs in Ireland. Bronagh is the creator and director of the MSc Adolescent Psychotherapy program at the Dublin Counselling Therapy Centre in partnership with the University of Northampton, and has been teaching this two-year program (the first and only MSc program in the world devoted entirely to therapeutic intervention with adolescents) since 2012. Bronagh has also been involved in the training of adult-oriented psychotherapists from a humanistic perspective, drawing on her roots in Gestalt practice for some time. As a recognized expert in the field of adolescent psychotherapy, Bronagh lectures and presents throughout Ireland and internationally on the developmental phenomena and therapeutic dynamics of contemporary adolescents. Her approach to therapeutic intervention with adolescents is both innovative and deeply relational. Her main interests related to the field of adolescents currently include the phenomenon of anxiety, the growing trend toward diagnosis, and the experience of sexual development.
Bronagh Starrs experience:
Gestalt psychotherapist in private practice for 24 years. She is a member of ICP (Irish Council for Psychotherapy) and an accredited member of IAHIP (Irish Association of Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy). IAHIP accredited clinical supervisor. Program Director, MSc Adolescent Psychotherapy – Dublin Counselling Therapy Centre in partnership with the University of Northampton. Campus director and co-leader of the MSc Counselling & Psychotherapy program (Omagh Campus) Dublin Counselling & Therapy Centre in partnership with the University of Northampton. Lecturer and workshop facilitator in related fields of adolescent mental health. Founder and director of the Blackfort Adolescent Gestalt Institute, a professional development center for professionals working in the field of adolescent psychotherapy blackfortinstitute.ie. In addition, she is a music teacher and dance therapist.
Bronagh Starrs – publications:
Bronagh’s first book, “Adolescent Psychotherapy – A Radical Relational Approach” (Routledge, 2019), has received international acclaim and has become a textbook in many training programs for adolescents in various therapeutic approaches. She has also written various articles on the subject, including several papers in the British Gestalt Journal, including “Working with Adolescents from a Catholic Background in Northern Ireland: a Generation’s Long Accumulation of Shame” (Vol 17, 1. 2008) and “Contact and Despair: A Gestalt Approach to Adolescent Trauma” (Vol 23, 2. 2014) and contributed several chapters to the collection “Relational Child, Relational Brain” (Gestalt Press/Routledge, 2017). Her most recent publication, “Adolescent Configuration Styles, Parenting and Psychotherapy A Relational Perspective” (Routledge 2023), has proven popular with professionals, parents and even teens themselves. She is currently completing a book for parents that explores the dynamics of anxiety presentation and offers relational strategies to support struggling teens.