Mary Pat Sullivan

Academic qualifications

PhD Gerontology, Institute of Gerontology, King’s College London (UK)  “Social Workers and District Nurses in Community Care Practice: Framing Ideologies and Interactions with Older People”

Master of Social Work, Carleton University (Canada)

Honours Bachelor of Social Work, Laurentian University (Canada)

Profile

Dr. Sullivan qualified as a social worker in the mid 1980’s and subsequently began her career in gerontological social work.  She spent fifteen years developing and delivering geriatric mental health services in northern Ontario.  During this time she and active volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Society, including Chair of Public Policy for the Alzheimer’s Association of Ontario, and worked with the Ontario Ministry of Health as an advisor on the development of policy for older people with mental health problems and long term care needs.  Later, Dr. Sullivan joined Queen’s University and Providence Continuing Care Centre as Director of Programme Evaluation and Health Services Research, Regional Geriatric Psychiatry Services.  

Dr. Sullivan currently works with the London Borough of Hillingdon, Adult Social Care, Health and Housing on a development project to strengthen social work with older people and expand research near practice and practice near research initiatives.  She also initiated and now leads a national network of gerontological social work academics that is addressing social work’s capacity in the UK to respond to the needs of the ageing population.

Dr. Sullivan has received numerous awards in recognition of her contribution to gerontological social work practice and research including Ontario Graduate Studies Scholarship (1985), Staff Award for Excellence, Sudbury General Hospital (1993), Study Exchange Scholar, Rotary International (1996), Student Bursary, King’s College London (1998-2002), and Brunel University Star Award (2011).  She was also awarded the first Tilda Goldberg Research Fellowship in 2010-11.

Committee responsibilities

• Social Work Representative, Research Ethics Committee, School of Health Sciences and Social Care
• School Representative, Brunel University Research Ethics Committee

Admin responsibilities

Module Leader, The Dissertation (SW5540)

Module Leader, Social Work with Adults: Community Care (SW3073 & SW5539)

Teaching responsibilities

Dr. Sullivan teaches on a range of modules within the Social Work Division and across the School Health Sciences and Social Care.  Her primary teaching focus is ageing and older people, geriatric mental health, community care and research methods.

PhD supervision

Current students:

Irene A. Lansah - Widowhood, food and food-related activities (with W. Martin and C. Victor)

Research interests

Social contexts of ageing and older people, geriatric mental health, psychosocial suffering in older age, ageism in health and social care delivery, use of knowledge in gerontological social work, and structural approaches in social work.

Research centres

• Brunel Institute for Ageing Studies (BIAS)
• Centre for Professional Practice (CPPR)

Research projects and grants

'Use as abuse: Alcohol related elder abuse' (Alcohol Research UK) PI with M. Gilhooly, C. Victor, Brunel University, S. Wadd, University of Bedfordshire and N. Ellender, London Borough of Hillingdon

'Ageing without children' (British Society of Gerontology) CI with M. Ray, Keele University

'Risk, trust and relationships in an ageing society' (Joseph Rowntree Foundation) CI with M. Gilhooly, J. Barnett, F. Gobet, Pricilla Harries, S. Niblock and C. Victor, Brunel University

'Social contexts of ageing and Alzheimer’s disease in Jordan' (British Academy) CI with C. Victor and M. Gilhooly, Brunel University

'Exploring loneliness trajectories over the life course'  (unfunded) CI with C. Victor and M. Gilhooly, Brunel University

Membership and affiliation

Professional activities or recognition

Education Consultant (2007-9) Developing Social Work in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (British Council) with D. Forrester, C. Victor and A. Cox

Evaluation Consultant (2003-4) P.I.E.C.E.S. Learning Initiative for Long Term Care and Acute Care (Ontario Ministry of Health and London Term Care) with J.K. Le Clair, D. Harrison and others

Knowledge Exchange Consultant (2003-4) Ontario Knowledge Exchange for Community and Long Term Care (Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, University of Toronto, University of Ottawa and Queen’s University) with J.K. Le Clair and D. Harrison

Conferences

Selected conference papers:

Sullivan M.P., Martin W., & Victor C. (2011) Exploring loneliness trajectories over the life course. Gerontological Society of America 64^th Annual Scientific Meeting, Boston, 18-24 November.

Sullivan M.P., Martin W. and Victor C. (2011) Exploring experiences of loneliness over the life course: Our bodies, selves, identities and social worlds. 40^th Annual British Society of Gerontology Conference, Plymouth, 5-7 July.

Sullivan M.P., Ray M., Richards S., Tanner D., Milne A., Beech C. and Phillips J. (2011) On the critical list: Social work with older people. 40^th Annual British Society of Gerontology Conference, Plymouth, 5-7 July.

Al-Makhamreh S. and Sullivan M.P. (2010) Professionalizing social work in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: Processes and implications.  Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development. Hong Kong, 14-16 June.

Sullivan M.P. (2009) Social workers and district nurses in community care practice: Framing ideologies and interactions with older people.  Gerontological Society of America 62^nd Annual Scientific Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia, 18-22 November.

Sullivan M.P., Forrester D. and Al-Makhamreh S. (2007) Developing social work education in Jordan. 9^th UK Joint Social Work Education Conference and 1^st UK Social Work Research Conference, Swansea, 11-13 July. 

Sullivan M.P., Pokhrel S. and Lin K.H. (2007) Cross cultural and critical practice: Developing opportunities in diverse learning environments. 4^th Asian Pacific Occupational Therapy Conference.  Hong Kong, 23-26 June. 

Other external activities

Publications

Journal Papers

(2012) Al Makhamreh, S. and Sullivan, MP., Professionalizing social work in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: processes and implications, European Journal of Social Work

(2011) Sullivan, MP., Special issue: Older people, INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK 54 307- 311

(2010) Sullivan, MP., Forrester, D. and Al-Makhamreh, S., Transnational collaboration: Evaluation of a social work training workshop in Jordan, International Social Work 53 (2) : 217- 232

(2009) Cocks, AJ., Al-Makhamreh, SS., Abuieta, S., Alaedein, J., Forrester, D. and Sullivan, MP., Facilitating the development of social work in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: A collaboration between Jordan and the UK, International Social Work 52 (6) : 799- 810

(2009) Sullivan, MP., Social workers in community care practice: ideologies and interactions with older people, British Journal of Social Work 39 (7) : 1306- 1325

(2007) Sullivan, MP., Parenteau, P., Dolansky, D., Leon, S. and Le Clair, JK., Shared geriatric mental health care in a rural community, Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine 12 (1) : 22- 29

(2004) Sullivan, MP., Kessler, L., Le Clair, JK., Stolee, P. and Berta, W., Defining best practices for specialty geriatric mental health outreach services: Lessons for implementing mental health reform, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 49 (7) : 458- 466

(2002) Sullivan, MP., An affair to remember: Fieldwork in qualitative research, Generations Review 12 (1) : 4- 6

(Accepted) Sullivan, MP., Pohkrel, S. and Lim, KH., Developing and promoting diverse learning environments, Diversity in Health and Care 7 (4) : 271- 282

Conference Papers

(2010) Sullivan, MP. and Al-Makhamreh, S., Professionalizing social work in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: Processes and implications, Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development

(2009) Sullivan, MP., Social workers and district nurses in community care practice: Framing ideologies and interactions with older people, 62nd Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting

(2008) Forrester, D. and Sullivan, MP., Developing social work education and research: Lessons from the UK, Social Work in Jordan Conference

(2008) McDonald, L., Sullivan, MP. and Forrester, D., Developing and adapting evidence-based social work interventions in the UK: The example of FAST, 10th UK Joint Social Work Education Conference and 2nd UK Social Work Research Conference

Book Chapters

(2013) Al Makhamreh, S. and Sullivan, MP., Decolonized social work practice in Jordan. In: Gray, M., Coates, J., Yellow Bird, M. and Hetherington, T. eds. Decolonizing Social Work. Ashgate

(2012) Nelson-Becker, H. and Sullivan, MP., Social Care and Spirituality. In: Cobb, M., Puchalski, C. and Rumbold, B. eds. The Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare. Oxford University Press

(2007) Sullivan, MP., Stella's orchestra: Social work in rural geriatric mental health. In: Grobman, LM. and Bourassa, DB. eds. Days in the lives of gerontological social workers. Harrisburg, PA : White Hat Communications 165- 170