The Niamh centre for
mental health research and policy

Research Team

Research Team

Please click on a name below to find out about our senior team at Compass.


Gerard Leavey - Director of Research

Dr. Gerard Leavey (BSc Hons, MSc, PhD) is Director of Compass. Gerry has degrees in Policy Studies, Public Health and Sociology of Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London and University College London. Over the past sixteen years he has undertaken a considerable body of research in psychiatry and health services research and played various key roles in the psychiatric research community in London and the UK, publishing in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals including the British Journal of Psychiatry, British Medical Journal and Social Science and Medicine.

Gerry has successfully obtained funding from many bodies including the Economic and Social Research Council, the NHS, the Medical Research Council, BUPA, and local health and social services authorities. His research interests are in community-based mental health services and support, help-seeking behaviour, migration, ethnicity and transcultural psychiatry, religion and spirituality. Appointed to the new post of Director of Research with Compass in January 2008, most recently Gerry was the Assistant R&D Director for Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and also one of the eight national Social Care Leads in the Mental Health Research Network. Gerry is an Honorary Senior Lecturer with University College London and has recently become an Honorary Professor with the University of Ulster.

Contact Gerry >
Click here for selected publications     
Chakraborty, A., King, M., McKenzie, K., Leavey, G. (2010) Perceived racism, medication adherence and hospital admission in African Caribbean patients with psychosis in the United Kingdom. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 37, 9, 430-434

Livingston, G., Leavey, G., Manela, M., Livingston, D., Rait, G., Sampson, E. Bavishi, S., Shahriyarmolki, K., Cooper, C. (2010) Making decisions for people with dementia who lack capacity: A qualitative study of family carers in Britain. British Medical Journal. 341, 494. 

Leavey, G. (2010) The appreciation of the spiritual in mental illness: a qualitative study of beliefs among clergy in the UK. Transcultural Psychiatry 47, 4, 571-590

Dura Villa, G.’ Dein, S., Littlewood, R., & Leavey, G. (2010) The Dark Night of the Soul: causes and resolutions of emotional distress among contemplative nuns. Transcultural Psychiatry , 47,4, 548-570.

King, M. & Leavey, G. (2010) Invited Commentary: Spirituality and religion in psychiatric practice: why all the fuss? Psychiatric Bulletin

Pirani, F., Papadopoulos, R., Foster, J., Leavey, G. (2008) The search for healing at a Muslim shrine in Pakistan. Culture, Religion and Mental Health 11, 4: 375 - 386

Leavey, G. (2008) Models of Pastoral care in mental health among UK clergy. Transcultural Psychiatry. 45 (1) 79-104

Vallianatou, C., Leavey, G., Brown, J. (2007) Practitioners’ perspectives of multicultural sensitivity. Counselling Psychology Review, 22, 4, 58-67

Leavey, G. & King, M. (2007) The devil is in the detail: partnerships between psychiatry and faith based organisations. British Journal of Psychiatry 191: 97-98

Warfa, N., Bhui, K., Klein, A., Leavey, G., Craig, T. (2007) Khat use, mental illness: a critical review. Social Science and Medicine. 65, 309-318

Leavey, G., Loewenthal, K., King, M. (2007) Challenges to Sanctuary: the clergy as a resource for mental health care in the community. Social Science and Medicine 65(3): 548-59

Leavey, G., Rozmovits, L., Ryan, L., King, M. (2007) Explanations of depression among Irish Migrants in Britain. Social Science and Medicine 65, 231-244

Leavey, G., Guvenir, T., Haase-Casenove, S., Dein, S (2007) Finding help: Turkish speaking refugees and migrants with a history of psychosis. Transcultural Psychiatry 44, 2, 258-274

Century, G., Leavey, G., Payne, H. (2007) The experience of working with refugees: counsellors in primary care. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 35, 1

Mayers, C., Leavey, G., Vallianatou, C., Barker, C. (2007) How clients with religious or spiritual beliefs experience psychological help-seeking and therapy: a qualitative study. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 14, 317-327

Janeet Rondon - Research Co-ordinator

Mrs Janeet Rondon (BA) is Research Co-ordinator. She completed a BA in Languages at the University of Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela in 1987. After specialising in legal translation Janeet became a lecturer at the University of Los Andes where she taught translation methods and techniques for four years. In 1993, she moved to Northern Ireland and continued to use her language skills for teaching at Queen’s University Belfast and on a self-employed basis she provided Spanish tuition, translation and interpreting services for a wide client base across NI. In 2004 Janeet embarked on a new career direction, by applying her teaching and instructional skills to a mental health promotion initiative for victims/survivors of the NI conflict, taking up the position of Project Co-ordinator of the Remember and Change Project with Compass. Since then she has been instrumental in the development of a variety of mental health training initiatives targeting community, statutory and voluntary organizations. As part of the Education Department team, she undertook planning, design, delivery and evaluation of training courses, seminars and study days for a range of organizations and individuals from the statutory and voluntary sector, with a focus on youth initiatives and the educational sector. She has now joined the newly established Research Department where her efforts have been directed towards research coordination, data collection, analysis and report writing. In 2007, Janeet completed a Certificate in Community Mental Health Care and attended two professional courses at the University of Surrey focused on techniques for qualitative data collection, management and analysis.

Contact Janeet >
Click here for selected publications     
Prof Alan Ferguson, Dr Gerry Leavey, Dr Karen Galway, Ms Janeet Rondon, Mr Graham Logan?
Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Strategic Review 2009, A Flourishing Society - Aspirations for Emotional Health and Wellbeing in Northern Ireland. Niamh (2009)?

Gerard Leavey, Peter McBride, Janeet Rondon, Katy Radford and Margaret Fawcett?
Needs assessment of clergy in dealing with suicide in Northern Ireland, Niamh/Southern Health and Social Service Board (2009)

Karen Galway - Senior Research Officer

Dr. Karen Galway (BSc. MSc. Ph.D) is our Senior Research Officer. Karen completed her primary degree in Applied Psychology at the University of Ulster in 1997. After 2 years working in the voluntary sector in a supportive role with adult experiencing mental health problems, she completed a Masters degree in Research Methods and Psychological Assessment at the University of Surrey in 2000. She went on to develop research experience in both the public sector (NI Statistics and Research Agency) and in industry (MORI Ireland) and in 2002 joined Queen’s University Belfast to take up a Research Assistant post in Epidemiology and Public Health within the School of Medicine.

Karen completed a PhD examining primary care services on the Island of Ireland, concentrating on the impact of consultation charges on attendance at the GP (2005). She has published work in a variety of public health arenas including inequities in access to primary care services, outward migration and community well being and has been involved in a number of a systematic reviews. In 2006 she was awarded a Cochrane Fellowship to carry out a systematic review of psychosocial interventions for newly diagnosed cancer patients. The review is due for publication in 2010. Karen was appointed to the post of Senior Research Officer in October 2008. Her research interests are focused on mental health services research, service user involvement in research and patient reported outcome measures.

Contact Karen >
Click here for selected publications     
Galway KJ, Black A, Cantwell M, Cardwell C, Mills M, Donnelly M.
Psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life and emotional wellbeing for recently diagnosed cancer patients. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD007064. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007064.

D O'Reilly, T O'Dowd, KJ Galway, AW Murphy, C O'Neill, E Shryane, et al.
Consultation charges in Ireland deter a large proportion of patients from seeing the GP: Results of a cross-sectional survey. European Journal of General Practice 2007; Dec;13(3): page: TBC DOI: 10.1080/13814780701815082

Galway KJ, Murphy AW, O'Reilly D, O'Dowd T, O'Neill C, Shryane E, et al.
Perceived and reported access to the general practitioner: an international comparison of universal access and mixed private/public systems. Irish Medical Journal 2007; Jun;100(6):494-7. PMID: 17668682

O'Reilly D, O'Neill C, O'Dowd T, Galway K, Gilliland A, Kelly A, et al.
Patients' attitudes to co-payments for general practitioner services: do they reflect the prevailing system? Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 2007; Oct;12(4):197-201. DOI: 10.1258/135581907782101589

O'Reilly D, Thompson KJ, Murphy AW, Bury G, Gilliland A, Kelly A, et al.
Socio-economic gradients in self-reported health in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Irish Journal of Medical Sciences 2006; Jul-Sep;175(3):43-51. PMID: 17073247

Lynette Hughes - Senior Research Associate


 Dr. Lynette Hughes (BSC. MA. Ph.D) is our Senior Research Associate.  Lynette completed her primary degree in Sports Science at the University of Ulster in 2002 and her Masters in Media at the University of Ulster, Coleraine.  Lynette completed a PhD examining the incidence and aetiology of athlete burnout across the Island of Ireland, concentrating on the physical and psychological manifestations of the syndrome (2009).  She has published work in the Journal of Sports Sciences and presented her research findings to the World Congress of Performance Analysis of Sport and the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport.  She has worked as a Youth Faith Development Co-ordinator with the Archdiocese of Armagh (2005-2010) in charge of developing faith retreat programmes in schools and parishes, writing and publishing documents for faith development, and co-ordinating leader-training programmes for youth volunteers.  Lynette has more recently worked for NIAMH in the Beacon centres delivering a programme for service users on Healthy Lifestyles, with the aim to inform and equip service users with life skills to aid their transition back into the community.

Contact Lynette >
Click here for selected publications     
O’Donoghue, P., Donnelly, O., Hughes, L., and McManus, S. (2004) Time Motion Analysis of Gaelic Games. In Journal of Sports Sciences, 22, 255-256.Hughes, L., and O’Donoghue, P. (2004) Time Motion Analysis of Men’s and Ladies Gaelic Football. In World Congress of Performance Analysis of Sport (6) Book of Abstracts, St. Mary’s University College, 22-25 June 2004.

Hughes, L. (2008) Wearing their Chains Willingly: Hegemony, Subordination, and Athlete Burnout. In North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Conference Proceedings, November 2008.

Sharon Mallon - Senior Research Associate   


 Dr. Sharon Mallon (BSc. Ph.D) is one of our Senior Research Associates.  Sharon commenced her research career as an analyst working on drug trials for cancer patients. After working for the NHS for a number of years Sharon completed her primary degree in Social Policy with the Open University in 2003. She then commenced work with the University of Manchester on a project working with families who had experienced a sudden young adult death, including those who died as a result of suicide.  In 2004 Sharon went on to work as a researcher on the RaPSS (Response and Prevention of Student suicide) study. This collaborative research project undertaken by the University of Central Lancashire, King’s College London and the suicide prevention charity PAPYRUS, was the first in-depth UK study of student suicide. As part of her work on this project Sharon interviewed family members, university staff and friends of young people who had taken their own life. Following the completion of this work, Sharon worked with PAPYRUS to produce and promote a training DVD aimed at university staff who come into contact with young people who may be vulnerable to suicide. 

In February 2010 Sharon was awarded a PhD for a qualitative study of young adults' suicides from the perspective of their friends. She concentrated on the young persons’ experiences of creating an explanation for their friend’s death and the role these explanations played in influencing their own attitudes towards suicide and mental wellbeing. After the completion of her PhD, Sharon worked for the University of Ulster on a project exploring communication in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. She has published work in the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling and Omega, Journal for Death and Dying. She has also presented her work at the American Association of Suicidology, the European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour and the Biennial Conference of the International Association for Suicide Prevention.  Her research interests are focused on the areas of bereavement, suicide prevention and postvention, and the aftermath of traumatic events.

Contact Sharon >
Click here for selected publications     
Stanley, N., Mallon, S., Bell, J., Manthorpe, J., (2009) Trapped in Transition: Findings from a UK study of student suicide.  British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 37, 4, 419-433

Stanley, N. Mallon, S. Manthorpe, J. Bell, J., (2010) Suicidal students’ use of and attitudes to support services: Findings from the RaPSS Study. Primary Health Care Research and Development. 11:315-325

Bell, J., Stanley, N., Mallon, S., Manthorpe, J., (2010) The Role of Perfectionism in Student Suicide: Three Case Studies from the UK. Omega, Journal for Death and Dying, 61(3) :251-67

David Mitchell


 Dr David Mitchell is Research Assistant in the School of Sociology, University of Aberdeen. He is working with Prof. Gerard Leavey and Prof. John Brewer on a Niamh-funded project on religion in the lives of ex-combatant prisoners in Northern Ireland.  After a BA in History and Philosophy and MA in Peace and Conflict Studies, David completed a doctorate on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement at the University of Ulster, where he was an Associate of INCORE and seminar tutor.  His research has been published in Peace Review, Irish Political Studies and Contemporary British History.
Compass Team Niamh Board and Senior Management Team
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