Together, we represent the collective national voice of early childhood home visiting in Ireland. Members of PEIN – Prevention and Early Intervention Network, we are motivated by a shared commitment to promoting the effective use of home visiting as a mechanism to enhance the health and well-being of children, parents and families.
The Executive Committee leads the strategic development and oversees the implementation of the activities of the Alliance. It reports back to the membership forums, which focuses on sharing the learning and building on our experience in terms of ‘what works’ in early childhood home visiting.
Our Network
Dr Josephine Bleach is Chair of the Home Visiting Alliance and Director of the Early Learning Initiative (ELI), National College of Ireland, a complex community initiative, which delivers a range of home visiting and parent engagement programmes, including the ParentChild+, ABC 0-2 (formerly Community Mothers), Home from Home and Stretch Graduate Home Visiting Programmes.
Mary Walker Callaghan, Regional Manager, Lifestart Services, Donegal. Lifestart is home visiting child development, parent learning and parenting/family support programme delivered throughout Donegal.
Niall Sexton is Programme Manager with Preparing for Life, based in Northside Partnership. Niall is a qualified social worker with extensive experience of working with families and communities in Ireland and in the United States.
Michelle Moore is the ParentChild+ Senior Specialist at the National College of Ireland. With 15 years’ experience in home visiting and early-year education, she supports the development, delivery, and quality assurance of ParentChild+ sites nationally.
Trish Hurley, Infant Mental Health (IMH) and Wellbeing Coordinator, and Interdisciplinary Team Lead with Let’s Grow Together! Cork, which supports families from pregnancy, right through to the important early years of a child’s life, with a focus on building relationships and meeting families where they are at.
Jill Sandvoss is programme manager at the Clonmel Community Mothers Programme, which supports the infant/parent relationship working from an Infant Mental Health model, bringing attention to the pre-birth to pre-school period of development and the quality of early relationships.
Jacki Connelly is the Executive Director at the Lifestart Foundation, which is the Lifestart National Office on the island of Ireland, responsible for licensing, training and quality assuring all those delivering the Lifestart Growing Child programme.
The Growing Child is a systematic evidence-based programme on child development, specifically designed for parents and delivered through a home visiting service. Lifestart works with parents so they can support their child to grow and develop in areas of speech and language, behaviour, problem solving, better self-esteem, and of course, in preparing the child for their later successes in school.
The Growing Child is a systematic evidence-based programme on child development, specifically designed for parents and delivered through a home visiting service. Lifestart works with parents so they can support their child to grow and develop in areas of speech and language, behaviour, problem solving, better self-esteem, and of course, in preparing the child for their later successes in school.
Sue Cullen has worked for Preparing for Life for 15 years. In her current role as Home Visiting Implementation & Fidelity Manager, Sue is responsible for driving enhancements to existing services whilst continuing to expand and grow the programme into new locations across Ireland and USA. With Sue’s extensive experience, she successfully has delivered on building a scalable programme, whilst supporting implementation with fidelity that has delivered demonstrated results.
