Creative Director

CIARA O’CONNOR WALSH

Ciara is Creative Director of A Lust for Life. Ciara has been working with the A Lust for Life team since 2017, and prior to that, has worked as a public relations and communications consultant for some of the country’s leading state agencies and organisations to produce communications campaigns and strategy on social issues ranging from housing, to the environment, to tourism, to overseas aid.

She specialised in youth communications and in designing educational programmes and experiential events for primary and secondary schools and colleges. Ciara has also spent many years working with some of Ireland’s largest non-governmental organisations, including Women’s Aid and the Irish Family Planning Association, working on organisational strategy, training, PR and communications.

Ciara has always cared deeply about our country’s mental health, having experienced mental health issues both herself, and in her friend and family circles, including losing a close family member through suicide. Ciara wrote her MA thesis on representation of mental health in the Irish Media in 2001, and has witnessed the hugely positive sea change in Irish culture around mental health over the previous two decades since. She believes that storytelling and breaking the silence surrounding mental health is key to social change; but that this needs to be shored up by significant state investment in, and normalisation of, services for people experiencing mental health problems; as well as investment in positive mental health programmes and education, especially for young people.

Ciara is also podcast producer and self-confessed podcast and radio nerd, and most recently has been working with Niall Breslin to produce his hugely successful Where Is My Mind series, his Wake Up/Wind Down Spotify series. She was also the producer of the award-winning Where There’s A Will podcast series for A Lust for Life. She is mammy to Ezzy and Seth (the humans) and Larry (the wheaten terrier), and lives with her husband and family in beautiful Kilkenny.

Written by Ciara
How the Buddhist metaphor of “the second arrow” can help you be nicer to yourself

Section – Tools

Head of Programmes

LEDA CONNAUGHTON

Leda is Head of Programmes in A Lust For Life.

Our Schools Programme is a ‘Netflix’ based model for primary schools to host engaging age-relevant content, created ‘by children for children’ and designed to build psychological flexibility and resilience.

Leda’s background is in developing and delivering educational and well-being programmes, which is underpinned by her BA in Psychology and MSc in Mental Health from Trinity College Dublin. Leda is passionate about changing Irelands’ narrative and support system around mental health, in particular for Irish young people. This has been at the backbone of her educational and working career after losing a close family member through suicide. Leda has made it her mission is to empower young people to mind their mental health, to break down the barriers of stigma that surrounds mental health and to create a more welcoming society that acknowledges and supports other people’s challenges.

Head of Fundraising and Events

LIAM REDMOND

Liam is Head of Fundraising and Events at A Lust for Life. Prior to joining A Lust for Life, Liam led fundraising teams in Children’s Health Foundation and Focus Ireland to raise vital funds to support sick children and people experiencing homelessness respectively. He began his career working for Enactus Ireland which empowers third level students to set up social enterprises. During the pandemic, Liam created his own social enterprise Certified Proud, which worked with businesses across Ireland and the UK to become promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity. Now based in Wicklow, Liam now sits on the board of Wicklow Pride, working to make Wicklow a safe place for the queer community.

Having recently become an uncle and godfather several times over, Liam has become extremely passionate about Ireland’s children, their mental health and their future. He believes that we need to invest in empowering children and young people to mind their mental health, which will not only help each young person but society as a whole.

Outside of work, Liam has become an “accidental runner” and will passionately debate anyone who questions Girls Aloud’s stellar contribution to music and pop culture.

Contact Liam at headoffundraising@alustforlife.com or +353 85 1848 632

Co-Founder and Chair

PAULA MCLOUGHLIN

Paula is Chair, Trustee and Co-Founder of A Lust for Life. Paula also makes regular appearances on national TV as a regular contributor to the Ireland AM breakfast television show on behalf of A Lust for Life.

In parallel, Paula is a Partner and Chief Strategy Officer with EY Ireland and has over 28 years of global consulting and leadership experience in talent and organisation performance, change management, strategy and transformation. Prior to EY, she lived in London for c.20 years where she was a Partner in a UK-based global consultancy, Global Solutions Director of a global L&D organisation, Global Programmes Director of a global retailer, COO of a UK think tank focused on leadership and the future of work and worked as an independent consultant with the C-suite of several global brands. Paula also co-founded and was previously a Director of a start-up focused on building psychological flexibility in leaders. She holds a Bachelor of Social Science and Masters in Economics from UCD and is completing a Master’s in Organisational Psychology at the University of London. Paula was previously an Ambassadors for Tomorrows People, a UK charity which supports young and marginalised people to get and keep a job – and was also Trustee/Director and Chair of HR sub-committee of Just for Kids Law, a UK charity which provides support, advice and representation to children in difficulty.

In building A Lust for Life over the years, Paula has fulfilled a promise to herself to spend more of her time using her extensive business background to influence and support causes that she feels passionate about. Based on a deeply held belief that we can and must do a better job of looking after the wellness of humanity, our young people and ourselves, A Lust for Life holds a very special place in Paula’s heart.

Co-Founder and IT Services

PRITESH SYMONDS-PATEL

Pritesh is a co-founder of A Lust for Life and provides IT services to the organisation. Pritesh has a deep passion for technology and mental health and strongly believes in the mission behind A Lust For Life. He decided to walk away from a successful career in banking and start a web development company where he could further build on his passion for technology. He has worked with many leading companies throughout various sectors to deliver bespoke solutions. Pritesh expanded company further include sports and personality management for a number of high profile athletes in the lead up to the Olympic Games. Pritesh’s insight into digital media strategy has been a key factor to successful sponsorship deals and is driven to deliver content which is engaging. Pritesh is working on developing further projects and products for both web based and mobile platforms.

Programme Administrator

DANIELLE HYNES

Danielle is Programme Administrator at A Lust For Life.

She is a qualified English, Media and Drama teacher and has taught in both primary and secondary schools. Danielle has also worked for many years in music management and as a Personal Assistant in Entertainment & PR industries for high profile clients.

She is passionate about working together holistically to make a positive difference to youth mental health and empowering young people through the mission of A Lust For Life. She is an avid music fan and musician and recently relocated from London to Dublin with her husband and two boys (Arlo & Elliott).

Fundraising Manager

CIARA COUGHLAN

Ciara is a Fundraising Manager at A Lust for Life.

Ciara started her career as an Occupational Therapist, working mostly with children and young people in mental health and disability services. While living in Australia, she stepped into the corporate world as a successful Partnerships Manager, known for her holistic and solution-orientated approach. Now, she is combining her skills to support early mental health education for young people across Ireland.

Ciara is hugely passionate about the preventative work A Lust for Life is doing, empowering children to look after their mental wellbeing early on, helping them face difficulties more confidently and reduce the risk of crisis.

She recently moved back to Ireland from Melbourne to be closer to family, especially her little nieces. Outside of work, you’ll usually find her singing in a choir, one of her favourite ways to support her own wellbeing!

ANDREW JENKINSON

Serial Entrepreneur Andrew Jenkinson is Director and Co-founder of Interactive experience company vStream, and XR experience specialists vStream Health. Andrew holds a BSc in Computer Applications from DCU and a Masters in Innovation & Technology Management from The Smurfit School of Business. Prior to founding The vStream Group of companies with childhood friend Niall O’Driscoll, Andrew was a founding member of Irish software startup SteelTrace which was acquired by US Multinational Compuware for $20M in 2006. Andrew has received significant award recognition including Internet Marketer of the year, Entrepreneur of the year (European Business Awards) and Irish Times Innovation Awards. Andrew is a keen musician, father of 3, and loves anything with an engine!

Written by Andrew
The panic attack that changed my life

Section – Personal Stories

DAVE BYRNE

Dave Byrne is the Head of Creative and board member for THINKHOUSE, a youth marketing agency in Ireland which has been voted Top 15 independent agencies in the world 3 years running.

In 2015, he was appointed Head of Creative Studio where he built and continues to lead the in-house creative team, delivering global best in class, culturally connecting campaigns and events.
Prior to Thinkhouse, Dave worked for Bodytonic Music, one of Ireland’s largest independent music promoters.

Over the last decade, Dave has worked on campaigns which have connected young people to countless brands and missions.
These include Movember, Darkness Into Light, BeLong To, Heineken Music, Barry’s Tea, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook, Unilever, Lucozade and Jameson.

True to his belief that to work in the youth culture space, you have to live and genuinely care about it, Dave runs a multitude of club nights and continues to DJ around the world. He is regularly invited to contribute to youth publications and media series.

TRIONA FERRITER

Triona has over 20 years’ experience operating at a senior management level within both US multinational and indigenous Irish companies. Having joined Arthur Cox in 2020 as Chief People Officer, Triona has responsibility for shaping and driving the People and Culture agenda for the firm, supporting the Management Committee and Partnership. Prior to Arthur Cox, Triona worked in the banking sector as Chief People Officer for AIB. Previous roles were primarily in a US multinational environment, where Triona supported diverse business functions, including manufacturing, shared services and retail, mainly in the pharmaceutical sector. Throughout her career Triona has coached Senior Business and HR Leaders and lead HR teams of scale. Triona has a passion for unleashing individual and organisation potential, has broad experience in driving high-performance cultures and leadership and is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and a business and executive coach. Prior to joining AIB in 2017, she was a European Executive Director with MSD, a multinational Pharmaceutical organisation.

Treasurer

ANDREW MUSSETT

Andrew Mussett is the Treasurer of A Lust for Life, having joined the Board in 2024. Andrew retired in 2024 and relocated to Dublin, Ireland where he now lives with his wife.

Andrew and his wife have two adult sons, both living and working in UK but who need no excuse for a visit to Dublin.

Prior to retiring, Andrew predominately worked for US Multinationals, holding senior Finance leadership roles across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

He is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant (UK) CIMA, Chartered Treasurer (UK) AMCT and Qualified Financial Advisor (IRL) QFA.

In his spare time, Andrew enjoys travelling, hiking and watching sports, especially rugby.

SINÉAD MCSWEENEY

Bio coming soon