About Dennis Donnelly
B.A., M.A., M.Sc., D.O. - Registered Osteopath
I am qualified in a number of academic disciplines BA Psychology and Philosophy; MSc Occupational Psychology; MA in Political Sociology and have worked in Industry, Higher Education, Local Government, the NHS and in Community Health both as an Academic, Researcher and Practitioner. So I have a sound grasp of the real world as experienced at many different levels of our society.
Latterly (last 30 years) I have trained as a Registered Osteopath which has been the basis of my professional clinical work. However my interest has always been body-mind interaction and the stresses that people experience in our modern age, and I have always strived to bring that into my practice as an osteopath.
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During that period I also trained in many other forms of bodywork allied to osteopathic practice. I have full professional qualifications in Cranio-Sacral therapy, Remedial and Orthopeadic Massage (Hendrickson Method), Meir Schneider Self-healing, Hanna Somatics, and Perrin Technique for ME/CFS/Fibromyalgia.
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I took several trainings in Body psychotherapy (Postural Integration and Energetic Integration), with international trainers Jack Painter, Sean Doherty and Silke Ziehl, which combined post-Reichian bodywork, deep tissue work , somatic processing and Gestalt Psychotherapy.
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I also have professional qualifications in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy, and NLP from British Hypnotherapy Research (BHR), and trained in Energy Psychology with Dr Philip Mollom who was at that time Consultant Clinical Psychotherapist with Hertfordshire Mental Health Directorate.
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I feel that I have always strived to work within a body-mind perspective and in my continuing professional development have attended workshops and seminars with Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing), Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory), Bessel van De Koch (Body Remembers), Albert Wong (Somatopia), Arielle Shwartz (Post-Trauma Growth) and Brid Keenan (Somatic Experiencing Ireland).
Community Health Projects
I am committed to widening access to complementary and holistic approaches to health and well-being and have devised and delivered many community health projects in the Northwest of England for which I have won national awards, including a National Research Fellowship, grants from European Social Fund, and recognition by International Federation of Therapists (UK largest Regulating Body for Complementary Medicine) for the nature of the innovative training projects I have run.
I was a special adviser to the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Medicine (POWFIH) between 2001-2003 and took part in a national collaborative research to develop better access to integrated holistic healthcare within the NHS.
For example I helped develop and run a project to make Complementary Therapies available through the NHS to deprived communities via GP surgeries in north Liverpool NHS provision, which allowed people with low income to access professional care from Osteopathy, Acupuncture and Homeopathy. I pioneered the development of low-cost care for ME/CFS patients based on evidence based self-care. Which project still supports many ME/CFS patients through online connection. And I pioneered a training programme for unemployed people in North Liverpool to develop and run their own therapy services to their communities.
In short I am fully qualified in both Physical and Body Psychotherapies which allows me to work across disciplines with integrity, groundedness, and sense of commitment to the wider social issues affecting the physical and mental health of our communities’.