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 Co-Chair
Dr Paterson is an internationally recognised expert on violence and restraint reduction in health, social care, and education who has advised governments in the UK, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. He has published more than 150 papers and research reports and is regularly instructed as an expert witness in civil cases, criminal prosecutions, and public inquiries. He conducted the first UK evaluation of training in the prevention and safer management of violence in the UK, developed the first standards for training, and undertook the first UK study into restraint-related deaths. He presently works in the UK and Australia.
Donal Mc Cormack
Conference Secretary
Donal Mc Cormack, who is our symposium secretariat has over 35 years of residential childcare experience as a practitioner and manager, during which time he has held diverse roles in community child care, inpatient child psychiatry, youth detention, mainstream residential and special care services for children.
Donal was the former national director of children’s residential services in Ireland managing a budget of €164m and a team of over 1,000 staff supporting approximately 600 young people across the statutory, voluntary and private sectors.
Donal currently lectures part time on the Masters in Professional Management of Complex Behaviour (PMCB) programme in Dundalk Institute of Technology Ireland and supports a broad range of health and social care professionals and services.