Noreen O’Connor (B.A., M.A. First Class Hons., PhD Contemporary European Philosophy, Dip. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 1988) is in private practice as a relational psychotherapist in North London. She has also worked as a psychotherapist in a university counselling service. Her philosophical research on the work of Emmanuel Levinas focused on The Problem of Alterity (M.A. Thesis) and The Problem of Self-Identity; Exile and Enrootedness (PhD. Thesis), themes which she continues to find integral to her clinical work. She has taught philosophy in a number of universities and social philosophy in adult education centres in Britain and Ireland. She has been a training committee member of three psychoanalytic psychotherapy organisations in London where she has also taught, supervised, and been a training therapist. She has lectured publicly and has run workshops on post-modernist phenomenological perspectives in psychoanalytic practice. Noreen’s publications include (co-authored with Joanna Ryan) Wild Desires and Mistaken Identities; Lesbianism and Psychoanalysis (Virago 1993, reprinted Karnac 2003) and (co-authored with Mary Lynne Ellis) Questioning Identities; Philosophy in Psychoanalytic Practice (Karnac 2010). She is a co-founder, with Mary Lynne Ellis, of PhilosPsyche.
Mary Lynne Ellis (B.A. Art and Design, Dip. Art Therapy 1983, Dip. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 1992, M.A. Art Therapy, M.A. Modern European Philosophy) is in private practice as a relational psychotherapist in North London. She has also worked as an art psychotherapist in the NHS and as a psychotherapist and art therapist in the voluntary sector. For many years she has taught, supervised, and worked as a training therapist for a number of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and art psychotherapy trainings in Britain. Her philosophical/clinical interests include themes of identities and differences, time, intersubjectivity, and language. Her M.A. thesis focuses on Merleau-Ponty’s theorising of sexuality. She has lectured publicly and run workshops in Ireland, Chile, and Britain on phenomenological perspectives in psychoanalytic practice, including art therapy. Her publications include Time in Practice; Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Times of our Lives (Karnac 2008) and (co-authored with Noreen O’Connor) Questioning Identities; Philosophy in Psychoanalytic Practice (Karnac 2010). Mary Lynne is a practising artist (ceramics, photography, and collage). She is a co-founder, with Noreen O’Connor, of PhilosPsyche.