Liam O'Loughlin

Senior Trainer in Addiction Studies & Best Practice

Liam began working in services for people affected by addiction as a volunteer in a direct access hostel for single men in central London in the early 1990s. He then went on to become a Substance Misuse Worker in 1994 in a low threshold detox unit for the homeless. Since that time Liam has worked in various settings which provide services to people who use drugs, including direct access accommodation, tenancy support, detoxification units, street outreach with people who are homeless or in residential care.

In 2004 he gained a Diploma in Social Work and following his registration with the General Social Care Council for England and Wales, Liam worked as a qualified Social Worker in a Care Management position at Westminster Substance Misuse Team.

Liam currently works full time for the Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board in a Community Development role within the addiction area.  Liam has trained in CRAFT and the 5-Step Method, both interventions specifically developed to provide support to people affected by someone else's drug or alcohol use. He uses these to provide one-to-one support directly to people affected. Liam is currently coordinating educational courses aimed primarily at reintegrating people with current or previous drug or alcohol problems and is contributing to the development of support for people currently drinking or using drugs problematically. Liam is also involved with the roll-out of PTRIME For Life prevention and pre-treatment programme in Galway.

In 2012 Liam completed a Masters in Drug and Alcohol Policy at Trinity College Dublin. 

He also designs and delivers workshops on substance use and misuse related topics for The Learning Curve Institute (LCI) as a Senior Lecturer in Addiction and In-House Training. Liam is a subject expert on Managing Professional Boundaries, Headshops Substances, Cannabis and the negative effects of problematic drug and alcohol use on those around the drinker and/or durg user and is the Course Director of the workshop for the LCI.