Dr. Kevin Mc Kenna
Symposium Co-Chair
Kevin has extensive healthcare experience in Ireland and US in clinical practice, administration, education, and research roles. In addition to nursing qualifications he holds undergraduate and post graduate degrees in psychology and education.
Kevin has a special interest in conflict and aggression within health and social care, and in supporting organisations in providing services free from restrictive practices. He has led a number of national and international educational, practice and research initiatives related to these subject areas including authoring ‘Linking Services and Safety’, the Irish Health Service Executive strategy on responding to aggression within Irish health services, the Seclusion and Restraint Reduction Strategy of the Irish Mental Health Commission, and serving as subject expert within the Irish and UK health services.
Kevin is a lecturer in Dundalk Institute of Technology Ireland where he led the development of the first academically accredited programme for instructors in complex behaviours [including aggression and violence] within health and social care. In addition to his academic post, he is a part time practitioner, and remains research active in a number of practice related areas.
Dwayne Smith
Symposium Co-Chair
Dwayne Smith is a dual sector leader, combining over 20 years of technical expertise with deep rooted lived experience in mental health advocacy. As CEO of InspireHub, he partners with organisations such as the CQC, NHS England, BILD Act, the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN), Priory Healthcare, and Cygnet Group to ensure the voices of lived experience and service users remain central to service design and improvement. Dwayne plays a key role in governance, safeguarding, and policy development, while championing culturally competent, equitable care.
He also co-creates the ENTMA events, bringing together diverse voices to shape inclusive mental health practice across the UK and EU.
Alongside his work in health and social care, Dwayne leads Vivid Clouds Limited, a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and AI Solutions company. Through this venture, he helps businesses across the UK and EU modernise and automate processes with secure, intelligent technologies. His cross sector leadership bridges innovation with compassion, transforming services through co produced, tech enabled solutions.
Iris Benson MBE
Symposium Co-Chair
Iris is a health services award recipient as patient leader, a qualified peer support worker, lived experience advanced practitioner in quality improvement, lived experience personal safety service trainer with Mersey Care NHS trust, is a of British Institute of Learning Disabilities, and lived experience assessor of BILD Accreditation of Certified Training. Iris is a public speaker, and has served as independent expert by experience and consultant nationally.
Iris describes being proud and privileged to work alongside staff of all disciplines across a UK NHS Trust, whose care over many years she believes has supported her during many frustrating and scary episodes on her journey of discovery. she would not be alive today. While Iris describes her has journey but incredibly worthwhile and I like many others continue to be on a Journey of discovery.
Iris is inspired by so many wonderful people, both qualified and unqualified, and places great emphasis on drawing upon her lived experiences of trauma in enabling others to understand the reasons underlying behaviours of concern.
Iris is deeply passionate and committed to inspiring change toward more effective and compassionate services, and inspiring hope in others along their recovery pathway.
Iris believes that we all have talents, and if effectively supported, people with lived experience can use these gifts to support others who use services, and their families and carers, to ensure that their voices are heard, in a safe, respectful, shared and collaborative way, bringing expression to Iris’s declaration that ‘we are all human beings together’
Dr. Brodie Paterson
Symposium C-Chair
Dr. Paterson is an experienced clinician, manager, and researcher with degrees in psychology, education and social policy and has published more than a hundred papers, book chapters and research reports. He has held posts in the NHS, academia, and the private sector. His present research interests include the development and evaluation of trauma informed professional curricula, the significance of compassion fatigue in human services and how we can ensure an understanding of the significance of trauma underpins policy and practice at a national level. He presently Chairs the European Network for Trainers in the Management of Aggression, is a trustee of UK Restraint Reduction network and a member of Scottish Restrictive Reduction Network. He is an Honorary fellow Ad Eundem of the Faculty of Nursing of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and a Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing Scientists.