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WRITING ABOUT PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR RTE BRAINSTORM -Joyce Ring

Joyce Ring has just completed the Masters in Psychotherapy in DCU. This is her second time to completed a programme of study in DCU having previously graduated in 1984 with a degree in Business Studies. After a career break of 19 years spent raising her family, Joyce decided to move from a business career to engage in a helping profession and the Masters in Psychotherapy provided a reputable pathway to this. https://www.dcu.ie/courses/postgraduate/school-nursing-psychotherapy-and-community-health/msc-psychotherapy Joyce is continuing to build the required clinical hours to gain accreditation with the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP). Here she shares her experience of getting her research into a public forum.

If you want to get your research to a wider audience, then you have to think about mass media. For my Masters in Psychotherapy research, this process started when RTE Brainstorm published an article on Anorexia Nervosa which I had co-authored with Dr Rosaleen McElvaney. This is how that happened…


I attended a seminar that Jim Carroll, editor of RTE Brainstorm delivered on writing for that website which made the prospect of writing for Brainstorm a tangible reality. I learned what works for RTE Brainstorm i.e. ‘evergreen’ stories which appeal to a general audience and have a unique angle or opinion. Jim stressed that writers need to know their audience in order to understand what will make a person click on their story, generally it’s ‘omg, I didn’t know that’, ‘what the.…?’ or ‘laugh out loud’ responses. I believed that my findings could generate the first two responses so felt enthusiastic about the prospect of writing for publication.

However, I realised that Brainstorm mainly focused on the work of PhD and Doctorate candidates or lecturers. Although my study did not fall into that category, I was still convinced of its wide appeal. So I discussed it with Jim and checked its suitability for publication, particularly as my supervisor, Dr Rosaleen McElvaney would be associated with it. Jim suggested I ‘pitch’ the research stressing that my supervisor involvement was crucial. An encouraging start…

Crucially, I was able to include a confirmation from my supervisor who gave the article her full support as co-author. Jim suggested a general article on Anorexia Nervosa incorporating my research findings as useful for Brainstorm readers. I wrote an interim report which Rosaleen hosted on her DCU webpage and to which the Brainstorm piece was then linked. Finally, everything was ‘good to go’ and the article was published on 23rd September https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0818/1159786-anorexia-ireland-psychological-effects/ Subsequently, it was re-tweeted by Bodywhys - the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, and will be included in one of their future newsletters. Through RTE Brainstorm, the findings are hopefully, reaching the intended audiences.

For anyone whose research might appeal to a general audience, I would certainly recommend reading; 'So you want to write for Brainstorm', then email a pitch to Jim at jim.carroll@rte.ie


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