Therese Hennessy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Limerick. Since qualifying as a registered psychiatric nurse she has worked in both clinical practice and nurse education. Her clinical area of specialty is substance misuse behaviour. She is a module leader for both undergraduate and postgraduate level programs. She has held the post of Course Director for the undergraduate BSc Nursing Studies (Mental Health) program at the University of Limerick. She has considerable direct involvement in curriculum planning, development, and review. She is Chair of the Addictive Behaviours Sub Group, Healthy UL and previously was Chair of the Department of Nursing and Midwifery Student Status Committee.  Therese s research interests relate to nurse education, mental health, substance misuse behaviour, eating disorders, and special needs. She advocates for people with special needs and promotes good healthcare provision for people with Down Syndrome. Her methodological areas of expertise are in mixed methodologies and qualitative research.