Professor Alan Carr

 

Role

Couple and Family Therapist

Qualifications

BA, MA, PhD

Registrations
  • Registered Family Therapist with the Family Therapy Association of Ireland (Reg FTAI)
  • Registered Psychologist and Fellow with the Psychological Society of Ireland (Reg Psychol, FpsSI)
  • Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Fellow with the British Psychological Society (C Psyol, FBPsS)
Particular Areas of Interest / Expertise

Complex family difficulties and mental health problems that affect adjustment of individuals, couples and families across the lifespan.

Personal Bio

Professor Alan Carr trained as a clinical psychologist and family therapist in Ireland and Canada. He worked in the UK as a clinical psychologist in the 1980s before returning to Ireland in the 1990s to work at the UCD School of Psychology and Clanwilliam Institute. He specializes in helping individuals, couples and families across the lifespan with complex family difficulties and mental health problems. His approach to helping clients is respectful, integrative and research-informed. He has a personal chair in clinical psychology at UCD where he is director of the doctoral programme in clinical psychology. He has produced over 20 volumes and 200 research papers and presentations in the areas of clinical psychology, family therapy and positive psychology. His work has been translated into other languages. He has received a number of awards for his research from various professional associations including the Psychological Society of Ireland and the European Family Therapy Association. His UCD webpage is at http://www.ucd.ie/research/people/psychology/professoralancarr/

Teaching Faculty

Role

Academic Council Member

Recent Publications
  • Carr, A., Linehan, C., O’Reilly, G., Walsh, P., & McEvoy, J. (Eds.) (2016). Handbook of Clinical Psychology Practice and Intellectual Disability (Second Edition). London: Routledge.
  • Carr, A., & McNulty, M. (Eds.) (2016). Handbook of Adult Clinical Psychology: An Evidence Based Practice Approach (Second Edition). London: Routledge.
  • Carr, A. (2015). Handbook of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology: A Contextual Approach (Third Edition). London: Routledge.
  • Carr, A. (2012) Family Therapy: Concepts, Process and Practice (Third Edition). Chichester: Wiley.
  • Carr, A. (2012) Clinical Psychology: An Introduction. London: Routledge
  • Carr, A. (2011) Positive Psychology. The Science of Happiness and Human Strengths (Second Edition). London: Routledge.
  • Carr, A. (2009). What Works with Children, Adolescents and Adults? A Review of Research on the Effectiveness of Psychotherapy. London: Routledge.
Conference/Seminar Presentations

Professor Carr has presented over a hundred presentations at national and international academic conferences and clinical workshops.
Carr, A. (2015). Doing the best possible in family therapy: Research informed practice. Invited workshop presented to Williams Road Family Therapy Centre, Caulfield, Australia, 9th November 2015.

  • Carr, A. (2015). Family therapy practice and research; A tale of two trials. Invited keynote address at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 15th April 2015.
  • Carr, A. (2013). Systemic therapy with child and adult focused problems: Reflections on reviewing the evidence base. Paper presented at a symposium convened by Rüdiger Retzlaff – The evidence-base of systemic therapy: A critical reflection. 8th Congress of the European Family Therapy Association, organized in cooperation with the Family and Marital Therapies Association of Turkey – Opportunities in a Time of Crisis: The Role of the Family – Istanbul October 24th – 27th 2013.
  • Carr, A. (2013). Functional family therapy. Implementation in an Irish Context. Invited address to the Clinical Psychology Department, Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand, 11th April 2013.
Teaching / Supervision Experience

Professor Carr holds a personal chair at UCD where he has taught clinical psychology for over 20 years. He has taught family therapy at Clanwilliam Institute, UCD, and conducted international training workshops in family therapy.

External Examiner Roles / Membership of Professional and Academic Subcommittees

Professor Carr is associate edior of the Journal of Family Therapy and on the board of assessors for a number of journals including Human Systems, Contemporary Family Therapy, Journal of Positive Psychology, and Journal of Clinical Child Psychiatry and Psychology. He regularly reviews book manuscripts for major international publishers including Routledge and Wiley.