AIDAN KEARNEY

Chartered Coaching Psychologist, Malleable Mind

Why did I study at QUB

I’ve always been fascinated by human behaviour and thinking, so psychology was the obvious pathway for me and having a university of the quality, and reputation of QUB on my doorstep kind of made the choice to study there a no brainer (or given that my course was psychology, perhaps that should be a ‘brainer’).

Career to date

I spent the first part of my career in an operational policing role with An Garda Siochana. I continued my study of psychology whilst there, with my MSc in Applied Forensic Psychology.

I then moved to a management role in civil service where I worked in policy development and reform; served as an investigations officer with the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and as an investigator in Corporate Investigations Branch.

All the way through I made use of the skills that studying psychology had helped me hone.

Following this, I moved to England to work with Prof Steve Peters who wrote The Chimp Paradox. I was part of Steve’s team applying psychology in various settings for a number of years before moving to another consultancy and then nearly 5 years ago setting up my own business.

Current role

As a chartered coaching psychologist, I currently run my own coaching psychology consultancy, Malleable Mind Ltd.

Being one of the first people in the UK to access and progress through the new BPS professional recognition route to chartership in coaching psychology, I’m not only an advocate for the enormous benefits of coaching psychology but count myself lucky to work with private and public sector organisations to help them harness their mind’s phenomenal capacity for adaptive change and to remain psychologically flexible whatever challenges they may encounter.

I remain constantly curious and fascinated by psychology and continue my professional development in a number of ways. Alongside the regular supervision I undertake this keeps my practice sharp whether working with to help an elite sports person perform under pressure, helping organisations navigate complex change, supporting staff with stress management and their resilience, develop their leadership skills or a range of other topics where the principles of evidence based psychology and approaches like ACT can help to truly harness potential.

Happiest memory

This is an interesting one. Picking one happy memory would be tough.

I practise the mantra ‘don’t be a hypocrite’ so if I extoll the virtues of gratitude to those I work with, I wouldn’t be very authentic if I didn’t practise it myself. As such living true to my values, being fair, balanced, supporting equality and supporting others to reach their potential and being grateful for the opportunities to realise this, in the work I do, really makes me happy.

For me it’s also about being present and open to the experiences and thoughts of every situation, so while undoubtedly getting married to my wife was the happiest day of my life, it was also a time for reflection and accepting the presence of more challenging and less comfortable emotions as neither of my parents were still alive to see that wonderful day.

Advice

This one’s easier to answer.

Keep pushing doors. You never know which one will open for you.

That doesn’t mean being laissez faire or reckless, but it does mean contacting, understanding and managing thoughts, feelings and behaviours that might hold us back from a direction we want to pursue or at least investigate.

Don’t be afraid of reaching out and connecting with people. Life and business is about relationships and I can assure you that many of the people you meet on your journey are only too willing to connect and share insight.

Anything else

Each one of us has access to the most complex, most powerful piece of kit imaginable – the human brain and mind.

It’s an unfinished masterpiece, malleable and flexible.

Push it, see what it and you are capable of.

Remember everything you’ve accomplished to bring you to this point. What does that tell you about your ability to take that next step, to address that next challenge.

You’re braver that you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. (AA Milne)