Life Stories... With Siobhan Murphy

Siobhan is Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) Project Director at the College of Medicine and Health. Siobhan's father was born in Ireland in the 1904 and so was exposed to the post potato famine Ireland as well as the war. Siobhan would often see her father in thought, but when she asked what he was thinking about, he would never fully answer. Siobhan went on to become a nurse and it was during this time that she would consider how a more compassionate angel would aid decision making and help patients. After researching she came across VTS which was co developed by Abigail Housen, Harvard Cognitive Psychologist, and Philip Yenawine, Director of Education at MOMA between the years of 1988-1991. This teaching method is initiated by facilitated discussions of art images and is documented to have a cascading positive effect on both teachers and students. Siobhan really believed in this method, so introduced  a course at University College Cork which all of the School of medicine now cover. I am really interested in self development, and I think VTS could be a very useful tool for general life as well as in medicine.