Our Staff

Mary Henihan

Mary Henihan joined Le Chéile in May 2010 and is Restorative Justice Co-ordinator and is responsible for piloting this new project in Limerick. Mary is currently establishing two modules as part of the RJ project – setting up a victim impact panel and a reparation scheme.

Mary has a BA in Psychology and Sociology from University of Limerick, a Higher Diploma in Youth and Community Work from NUI Maynooth, and a Masters in Social Work from University College Cork.

Before joining Le Chéile, Mary worked with ‘At Risk’ young people and their families in Limerick City. She’s also co-ordinated and facilitated a number of youth projects, parenting programmes, afterschool clubs and summer projects with young people within the regeneration areas.

Mary Davis

Mary Davis is Le Chéile’s Policy and Communications Officer. Her responsibilities include Policy and Procedures, the newsletter, website and facilitating the National Volunteer Committee. In addition Mary also supports the coordinators with the recruitment and training of new volunteers.

Mary joined Le Chéile in 2008 as Mentor Support Worker. She then went on to provide maternity cover as Mentor Co-ordinator in the Midlands, and later in Dublin South. She has recently returned to Head Office where she has taken up her new post as Policy and Communications Officer. Mary holds a BA in Economics and Politics from UCD and a MA in Public Relations from DIT.

Alison O’Reilly, CEO

Alison O’Reilly was recruited by the Probation Service in March 2005 to pilot the Le Chéile Mentoring Project in North Dublin. Following the successful completion of the pilot phase, Alison led the organization to become a National Mentoring & Family Support Organisation. Alison has 10 years experience in working with volunteers and with vulnerable children through mentoring, child protection and children’s consultation.  Alison has an M.Sc in Training & Human Resource Management and a B.A. in English & Human Development (Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy).

Lyndsey McCabe

Lyndsey McCabe joined Le Chéile in January 2010 providing maternity cover the North Dublin Region.  In January 2011, she became co-ordinator of Le Chéile's West Dublin region.   Based in Ballymun, she manages the team of volunteer mentors who work with both young people and parents in West County Dublin and the city centre.

Lyndsey has BA(Hons.) in Social Care from Athlone Institute of Technology, and worked within the area of Disability before moving into Family Support. During her time as a Project worker that site co-ordinated the first Strengthening Families Programme in Meath in 2009.

Jacinta Higgins

Jacinta Higgins is Accounts Assistant for Le Chéile and is based in Head Office. Jacinta is responsible for processing accounts for all four Le Cheile projects, including volunteer expenses.

Jacinta has a BA in Accounting and Human Resource Management from National College of Ireland. Before joining Le Chéile in 2009, Jacinta worked in an accountancy practice for 5 years during which time she trained and qualified as an Associate of the Irish Taxation Institute of Ireland (AITI). She’s currently undertaking the ACCA professional accountancy exams.

Julia Alexander

Julia Alexander joined Le Chéile in 2009 as Young Persons Services Manager. She currently manages the six regional Mentor Coordinators and her main focus is developing the area of Youth Mentoring.

Julia has a MA in Social Work, a Graduate Diploma in Management and is also a qualified secondary school teacher.

Before joining Le Chéile, Julia worked mainly in the youth justice sector, setting up and developing community-based youth projects in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Claire Carroll

Claire joined Le Chéile as Office Administrator in June 2010. Based in our Head Office in Dún Laoghaire, she supports the work of our CEO and staff both in Head Offfice and around the country.

Claire ahs a Degree in Law and Masters in Equality Studies from the School of Social Justice I in UCD. She has also completed Volunteer Management Training with Dublin City South Volunteer Centre and has been a volunteer herself for a number of years. Claire volunteers with Crime Victims’ Helpline both and since June 2009 as a director of the service.

Heather Sinnott

Heather Sinnott joined Le Chéile in October 2006 and established the Youth and Parent Mentoring services in the South East areas of Waterford city and county, South Tipperary and New Ross. Hailing from Scotland, Heather’s work background includes 10 years with the Careers Service whre the focus was on the Social Inclusion groups, including young offenders leaving residential units and care leavers. Her qualifications include a BA in Consumer and Management Studies followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Career Guidance.

Seán Kinahan

Seán Kinahan is Le Chéile’s Family Support Manager, and is manages Parent Mentoring, Strengthening Families Programme and the new Restorative Justice project. Seán joined Le Chéile in 2007 and has been involved in most areas of the project, including training, recruiting and accounts.

Before joining Le chéile, Sean worked for a number of multinationals after completing his Bachelor of Business Studies and is currently completing a Masters in Social Justice and Public Policy. He’s also involved in volunteering for a number of organisation including Oxfam and Amnesty International.

Fidelma Connolly

Fidelma joined Le Chéile as our Cork Co-ordinator in April 2009, continuing the good work done in Youth Mentoring and introducing Parent Mentoring to the region.

Fidelma previously worked in Banking and returned to full-time education in 2003 to complete a 4 year degree in Social Word (BSW).

On graduation, she worked for a short time with the Child Protection Team in North Lee Social Work Department before working as a Probation Officer for approximately 18 months.

Sarah Butler

Sarah has recently joined Le Chéile as a project worker in our new Restorative Justice Project in Limerick.

Sarah has a BA in Training and Education from NUI Galway, a Diploma in Addiction Studies from University of Limerick, a Diploma in Secretarial Studies from Pery Square College, Limerick and a Certificate in Youth and Community Work from Univerisity College Cork..

Sarah has over 15 years experience in the community development area and has worked in a residential setting with homeless men and women struggling with addiction and mild mental health issues. She’s also worked with young people battling addiction. She’s also designed and delivered various training programmes to members of the public, parents, professionals, young people, statutory and other organisations.

David Harrison

David Harrison joined Le Chéile in July 2009 as our Accounts and Corporate Services Manager. Since then he’s implemented new process and procedures in accounts which enable Co-ordinators to focus on their core responsibilities. David developed the financial management and governance of the organisation and has reduced costs and enhanced the Value for Money ethos of the organisation.

David studied Accountancy in Griffith College and qualified as a CPA in 2000. He trained and qualified in Practice as an Auditor, moving in to industry as a Financial Controller in the SME sector before joining Le Chéile.

Siobhán Abbott

Siobhán Abbott is Mentor Co-ordinator for the South-East. Based in Limerick, she covers Limerick city and county, North Tipperary, Clare and North Kerry. This region works very closely with all the other Probation projects to provide a holistic service to the whole family and have an equal number of parent and young person mentor/mentee relationships

Before joining Le Chéile in 2008, Siobhán worked in Traveller Health and Community Development in Nenagh.

Marie Vanasova

Marie Vanasova joined Le Cheile in 2008 as a Mentor Coordinator for the Dublin South Region and she manages the team of young people and parent Mentors who work with clients in Dublin South area. Marie, originally from the Czech Republic, has been living in Ireland for over 6 yrs. She has a BA in Social Work and a Certificate of Work with Youths at Risk.

Marie had been always interested in mentoring and she had acted as a mentor in a similar project back in Prague during her studies. Marie has worked previously in the area of addiction and as a Community Employment Supervisor, helping people to return back to education and work.

Carol Maricle

Carol Maricle joined Le Chéile in 2006 and set up the Cork Mentoring Project. Over the past two years, Carol has been rolling out the Strengthening Families Programme nationally to huge success.  Since integrating SFP into all regions, Carol is now one of our Co-ordinators for the Cork region

Carol has an honours degree in Social Science from UCC and a Masters in Heath Service Studies from the Nuffield Institute for Heath at Leeds University. Carol also trained in LEO (Leading an Empowered Organisation)

Before joining Le Chéile, Carol worked for the ISPCC as a Childhood Support Worker, working therapeutically with young people and families and helping to set up a Cork parent mentoring service.

Helen McCarthy

Helen McCarthy is Mentor Co-ordinator for the Midlands Region and is based in the Portlaoise office.  This region was established in 2008 and covers Laois, Offaly, Kildare, Carlow and Kilkenny.  Helen manages a team of volunteers who work as mentors to young people and parents across these counties.

Helen has a Diploma in Marketing from the College of Marketing and Design DIT.  Before joining Le Cheile Helen worked in the area of disability and had worked as a volunteer in various youth projects.

Rele Aliu

Rele Aliu joined Le Chéile in 2008 as an Accounts Assistant and since added Telephony and IT to her job description. Rele is based at our head office in Dublin and is responsible for SFP and RJL accounting as well as all telephony and IT queries.

 Rele studied Business Administration in the UK before coming to Ireland in 2001. She later settled into the role of Accounting and was IATI certified. Before taking up her role at Le Chéile, Rele worked as a Financial Administrator and Accounts Manager. Rele brings with her 7 years accounting experience working with small to medium sized organisations. Rele is looking forward to furthering her studies and getting ICAI qualified.

Ingrid Cooney

Ingrid Cooney started with Le Cheile in 2005 in the pilot project in Coolock, as the project expanded she moved to Ballymun where she is now the Dublin North co-ordinator working with young people and their parents.

Ingrid herself came from a volunteering background, working with young people and families in inner city Dublin where she ran youth clubs and did family conferencing with St Vincent De Paul for over 10 years, she also taught adult literacy in DALC ( Dublin Adult Literacy Centre).

Before joining Le Cheile Ingrid had worked as a  Skills Coach for a Aer Lingus; she  has a diploma in marketing from DIT and she has certificates in Child Psychology, Youth and Community Work  and Addiction Studies.