About Us

The National Institute of Intellectual Disability Studies comprises a network of consultants who collectively are a leading group of national and international experts with extensive knowledge of Irish disability services and HIQA regulations.

Our training and workforce development solutions support organizations in developing the values, attitudes, knowledge, skills, and competencies of their staff, resulting in individuals with disabilities being supported in empowering ways. We are an Irish-owned and run company with a long history of nursing, social work and managing disability services in Ireland and the UK. We provide Tutor Led Training, Online Training (eHub) and Workforce Development Services exclusively to the disability sector. We have an associate model which enhances the totality of our services.

Martha Mc Ginn

Martha Mc Ginn is one of the Company Directors of the National Institute of Intellectual Disability Studies. Martha completed her Higher Diploma in Learning Disability studies at UCD and is a Registered Nurse for people with Intellectual Disabilities (RNID). She has a B.Sc.Hons Degree in Professional Social Work specialising in working with People with Intellectual Disabilities. Martha also studied under Valarie Sinason (a World-renowned psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in the field of Intellectual Disability study), completing a specialised course in Psychodynamic Therapy at the Tavistock Centre London. Martha’s practical experience includes working with both children and adults with complex needs, such as those who have or who live with:

• Severe to profound Intellectual Disabilities 
• Behaviour which is challenging 
• Are on the Autistic Spectrum Disorder 
• Superimposed mental illness

Martha also specialises in working with families and is a winner of a BILD International Award for Research and Innovation for her work's direct impact on their family lives. She also has a Professional Management of Violence and Aggression degree from the Dundalk Institute of Technology. This is the only HSE-endorsed training in Ireland. This training has provided her with the skills to undertake intense Expert Training Need Analysis of organisations to review every aspect of why service users may become aggressive.

Bernie Kerridge

Bernie Kerridge has 40 years of nursing experience and is one of the Company Directors of the National Institute of Intellectual Disability Studies. She holds a certificate in Community Nursing for People with Intellectual Disabilities (ENB 806) and has worked with children, adults and their families as a community nurse in the East end of London for nearly a decade, assisting them in undertaking medical and clinical complex tasks in their own home.

Bernie was a Director of Nursing for over seven years in a large residential respite and day centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities and a Nursing Home for Older People. She has a dual qualification in Nursing, RGN (Registered General Nursing) and RNID (Registered Nurse in Intellectual Disability.) She also successfully holds a Diploma in Management and Industrial Relations awarded by the National College of Ireland.

Working in collaboration with the Tizard Centre at the University of Kent for the conversion training content for online delivery. Tizard is at the forefront of research and training development in autism, intellectual disability and community care in the UK.

• Professor Mary Mercer (former Head of Faculty at Minot State University, North Dakota Centre for Persons with Disability) is currently developing training content for us.
• We have a Memorandum of Association with the North Dakota Centre for Persons with Disability at Minot State University to provide training content suited to the Intellectual Disability sector.
• We are more than a training company, we also provide a suite of workforce development tools for the intellectual disability sector. The suite is known as such as Remote Workforce Development Tools AOSSSC© (Achieving Organisational Success by Supporting Staff Competence), and includes a competency framework for intellectual disability staff (managers, supervisors and operational staff), HIQA Self-Assessment gap analysis tool DoGAP© for organisations dealing with intellectual disability, and performance measurement and reflection tools.
• National Institute Of Intellectual Disability Studies offers a series of comprehensive, easy-to-use solutions for families, individuals and organisations supporting people with disabilities in residential, day, respite, community services and schools, with training and workforce development solutions outlined below.