Animal Health Ireland (AHI) has appointed chartered health psychologist Alison Burrell to the AHI team.
Having qualified through the National Health Service (NHS) Education for Scotland training programme, while working in an in-patient NHS setting, Burrell gained experience in designing and delivering one-to-one and group health behaviour change interventions.
According to AHI, in this role she developed an interest in providing specialised communication training to healthcare professionals to successfully deliver collaborative behaviour change consults with clients, which she is now keen to apply to animal health.
More recently, Alison has worked as a post-doctoral researcher for Teagasc, Athenry on a Safefood-funded project ‘Use of antimicrobials in animal health on the island of Ireland: knowledge, attitudes and behaviour’.
Here she developed behaviour change intervention recommendations, to address antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic use on farms in Ireland.
She has also collaborated with colleagues at UCD School of Veterinary Medicine to examine the perceived barriers and facilitators of parasite control programmes on thoroughbred studs.
Welcoming the psychologist to the team, AHI CEO Dr. David Graham said: “I am pleased to welcome Alison to AHI.
“In her role, she will bring a new and exciting dimension to the work of AHI.
“Encouraging and facilitating behaviour change is central to all of our activities, and Alison’s skills, experience and knowledge will further enhance our capabilities in this area in support of a range of programmes.”