Duffy Cormac
Trainee Clinical Psychologist
Lancaster University & NeuroTriage
Cormac’s passion is working with those who have been disadvantaged and disenfranchised in our society. He is happiest when working creatively in communities to reduce the stigma associated with mental health difficulties. He firmly believes in the value of people’s lived experience and its role in helping others. He will qualify as a Clinical Psychologist later this year when he completes his training with Lancaster University. He was proud to receive the programme’s 2017 Bill Ryder Award, which recognises a commitment to the reduction of stigma for individuals experiencing mental health difficulties.
Cormac facilitates Café Psychologique Liverpool which is part of a now international movement aiming to create spaces for people to talk about life in an open, equal way. It explores issues such as divisions in society, homelessness, loneliness, and the role of story telling in our lives. His therapeutic model of choice is Narrative Therapy in which he has received specialist training from the Institute of Narrative Therapy (still much more to learn).
This year, Cormac is involved in a project called ‘This I’d Tell My Teenage Self’ by the Circle of Life & Change. This inspirational group use their experiences of recovery from addiction to develop an honest and compassionate performance based on conversations they would have with their teenage selves. It was performed at the 2018 Clinical Psychology Fringe Festival. For the past two years he has been a member of the NeuroTriage team, which is an innovative service seeking to reduce barriers to neuropsychological support faced by individuals experiencing homelessness. His research priorities are focused on homelessness, cognition, and the factors affecting this relationship, namely brain injuries and learning disabilities.
