Aoife keenan

About Aoife keenan

Aoife Keenan is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Mental Health Nurse, and Nurse Therapist with over 12 years of specialist experience working within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Throughout her career, she has worked across both community CAMHS teams and specialist inpatient adolescent mental health services, supporting young people and their families through a wide range of emotional and mental health difficulties. She has particular expertise in self-harm, suicidal thinking, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, depression, and acute psychological distress.

Aoife completed her undergraduate nursing degree at Trinity College Dublin and has undertaken postgraduate studies through both Dublin City University (DCU) and University College Dublin (UCD). She has also completed specialist training through St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, further developing her expertise in mental health assessment, therapeutic intervention, and evidence-based care for children and adolescents.

A significant focus of Aoife’s career has been supporting young people who present in crisis. She has played a key role in the development and implementation of the Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse (SCAN) model within CAMHS, giving her extensive experience in suicide and self-harm risk assessment, crisis intervention, safety planning, and family support. She understands how frightening and overwhelming it can be when a young person is struggling with self-harm or suicidal thoughts and recognises that parents often need clear guidance, reassurance, and practical support during these difficult times.

Families often choose to work with Aoife because she offers a unique combination of specialist crisis expertise and therapeutic intervention. Her experience across both inpatient and community settings enables her to understand young people’s needs at every stage of their mental health journey, from early intervention through to periods of significant crisis. Parents value her calm, structured, and compassionate approach, as well as her ability to explain complex situations clearly and develop practical plans that help families move forward with confidence.

Alongside her crisis-focused work, Aoife practises as a Nurse Therapist, providing evidence-based interventions informed by Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). Her therapeutic approach is collaborative, strengths-based, and tailored to the developmental needs of adolescents. She believes that young people are more likely to make meaningful changes when they feel understood, respected, and actively involved in the therapeutic process. Her focus is not simply on reducing symptoms but on helping young people develop the skills, confidence, and resilience needed to manage life’s challenges more effectively.

Drawing on DBT principles, Aoife helps young people understand the relationship between their emotions, thoughts, behaviours, and life experiences. Together, they explore the factors contributing to distress while developing practical strategies that can be used both during therapy sessions and in everyday life. Her work focuses on helping adolescents manage intense emotions, improve distress tolerance, strengthen relationships, reduce self-harm behaviours, and build healthier coping mechanisms. She frequently incorporates behavioural chain analysis to help young people understand patterns of behaviour, identify triggers, and develop safer alternatives when difficulties arise.

Aoife’s DBT-informed programme is practical, structured, and tailored to the individual needs of each young person. While every treatment plan is individualised, a typical 50-minute session includes a review of wellbeing and any current concerns, reflection on previously learned skills, exploration of emotional triggers and behavioural patterns, the introduction and practice of a new skill, and collaborative planning for the week ahead. Skills may focus on emotional regulation, distress tolerance, communication, interpersonal effectiveness, mindfulness, self-soothing strategies, and reducing self-harm behaviours. The structured nature of sessions helps young people make meaningful progress while building confidence in their ability to manage future challenges independently.

Aoife’s approach is warm, non-judgemental, and highly practical. She aims to create a safe therapeutic space where young people feel able to talk openly about their experiences without fear of criticism or misunderstanding. At the same time, she recognises the important role parents and caregivers play in a young person’s recovery and works closely with families to improve understanding, strengthen communication, and increase confidence in managing difficult situations.

Collaboration is central to her practice. Where appropriate, Aoife works alongside parents, schools, General Practitioners, referrers, and other healthcare professionals to ensure a coordinated and consistent approach to care. By bringing together the key people involved in a young person’s support network, she helps create greater clarity, shared understanding, and more effective outcomes.

Through comprehensive assessments, crisis support, short-term intervention, and structured skills-based therapy, Aoife provides care that is safe, compassionate, and evidence-based. Her combination of advanced clinical expertise, extensive CAMHS experience, specialist knowledge in self-harm and suicide prevention, and commitment to therapeutic partnership enables her to support young people and families in moving from crisis towards stability, resilience, and lasting positive change.