Biography
I am a full-time academic in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures in Trinity College, Dublin (since 1996), and a faculty member in the Children's Therapy Centre, Mullingar, Ireland, since 2016. I have a book in press with Routledge: Hoare, R. (2025) Psychological Support for Refugee Adolescents: An Expressive Arts Approach to Wellbeing and Trauma Recovery. My original areas of specialism are in sociolinguistics, language and identity and second language acquisition. However my interest in psychology and psychotherapy was piqued by my work as a College tutor and disability liaison officer and led me to complete a degree in psychology and a clinical Masters in psychotherapy. Since qualifying in 2016 I have also been working on behalf of Tusla, the Irish Child and Family Agency, as a part-time expressive arts child and adolescent psychotherapist with unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents. I have recently set up the Centre for Forced Migration Studies in Trinity College, Dublin, set up and run the weekly English conversation classes for refugees with Bronagh Catibusic through the University of Sanctuary and been involved in many other Sanctuary activities which welcome refugees and those seeking international protection into Trinity College. I deliver modules to undergraduate and post-graduate students on 'the human experience of forced migration' and 'identity at the margins: reconstructing identities and re-imagining futures of those who have experienced forced migration'. I also deliver courses on language and identity which explore the ways in which young people with dual identity in France carry out their lives at the intersection of two cultures and how well they adapt to their intercultural experiences. I have delivered numerous trainings on how to work therapeutically with refugees to the UNHCR in Dublin, the European Migration Network, government agencies, NGOs, charities, schools, youth organisations, social workers, foster careers and other support staff. I have delivered public lectures on this topic, notably as part of the Long Room Hub 'Behind the Headlines' series. I have written in the print media about the ways in which expressive arts therapies can help to heal the trauma of refugees and have delivered keynotes and other conference papers on this and related topics related to my research on supporting refugee youth. I was previously Academic Director of the Trinity College Inclusive Curriculum project which has been working to embed principles of diversity, equality and inclusion across all teaching and learning at Trinity College Dublin. Based in the Office of the Associate Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity and Equality, Trinity-INC works collaboratively across the College community - with staff and students, academic and support spaces - to achieve its mandate.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Philomena Mullen and Rachel Hoare, Introduction to 'Racialised from the start. Revisiting Ireland's Citizenship debate - A 20-year retrospective, Irish Journal of Sociology, 34, (2), 2026, p173 - 182
Rachel Hoare, Creating Space for Multiple Belongings: Expressive Arts Approaches to Multicultural Identity in Post-Referendum Ireland, Irish Journal of Sociology, 2026
Rachel Hoare, Psychological Support for Refugee Adolescents, First, UK, Routledge, 2025, 1 - 237pp
Rachel Hoare, Tess Leak, Sharon Whooley, Bridging culture through song: musical exchange in torture survivor befriending, Journal of Creative Arts, 2, (2), 2025, p19 - 42
Pathways to healing: expressive arts practice with adolescent refugees in, editor(s)McGowan, E; Quinn, S; Jalovcic, D , Interprofessional Approach to Refugee Health: A practical guide for interdisciplinary health and social care teams, Cambridge, Open Book Publishers, 2025, [Rachel Hoare]
Rachel Hoare, Friendship is crucial for refugee children - here's how to talk to your child about being welcoming, 2024, -
Unclear minds and coping through music in, editor(s)Campbell, Dominic Kelleher, Bea , Creative Brain Week Knowledge Making, Dublin, Creative Aging International, 2023, pp33 - 39, [Rachel Hoare]
Dr Rachel Hoare, I was lost in my life and they helped me find my way again': Befriendee and befriender experiences of the Spirasi Befriending Programme for survivors of torture in Ireland, Journal of Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors, 2023
Rachel Hoare, Using composite case material to develop trauma-informed psychoeducation for social care workers looking after unaccompanied minors in residential care in Ireland, Health and Social Care in the Community, 2022
Rachel Hoare, Friends as family: Using composite psychotherapy case material to explore the importance of friendships for unaccompanied adolescent refugees coping with the challenges of resettlement in Ireland, Journal of Refugee Studies, 2022
Adolescences disrupted in displacement: the protective effect of friends as proxy family for unaccompanied adolescent refugees settling in Ireland in, editor(s)Ingrassia, Massimo , Adolescences, Intechopen Ltd, 2022, pp25 , [Rachel Hoare]
Imelda Coyne(ed.), Children should be seen and heard, Children's Research Digest 2019, Trinity College, Dublin , December 2019, 2020
Rachel Hoare, From global phenomenon to framework for living: using the beautiful game creatively to provide therapeutic care for unaccompanied male adolescents seeking asylum in Ireland., International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care , 2020
Rachel Hoare, Combining the BASIC Ph model of coping and resiliency with creative approaches to football to provide therapeutic care for separated male adolescents seeking asylum in Ireland. , Inside Out Irish Journal of Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, 91, 2020
Rachel Hoare, I can only be properly myself when I'm with her': Early adolescent intra-ethnic immigrant group friendships as a safe place for identity exploration, negotiation, and validation, Childhood, 2019, p1 - 19
Rachel Hoare, Ireland to the Lebanon and back: a case study of the use of Child-Centred Play Therapy and parental psychoeducation to reduce the separation anxiety of a pre-school child during his father's military deployment, The Irish Social Worker, Spring, 2016, p3-28
Rachel Hoare, Neurobehavioural Disorder associated with prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE), Play Therapy Matters Irish Association for Play Therapy and Psychotherapy, 1, (15), 2015, p13 - 20
Giving voice to the experiences of children of immigrants in Ireland: An exploratory study of language, identity and emotional well-being. in, editor(s)Vera Regan , New Approaches to Multilingualism and Identity in Transnational Contexts, Oxford, Peter Lang, 2015, pp129 - 165, [Rachel Hoare]
Rachel Hoare, Developing the proficient language learner: motivation, strategies, and the learning experience of Irish learners of French in a university setting, Teanga, 22, 2007, p28 - 52
Rachel Hoare, Language attitudes and perceptions of identity in Brittany, Teanga, 20, 2004, p163 - 192
Rachel Hoare, Attitudes and motivations of undergraduate learners of French: an integrative approach, Revue Parole, 20, 2001, p235 - 262
Rachel Hoare, An Integrative Approach to Language and Attitudes in Brittany, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5, (1), 2001, p73 - 84
Hoare, Rachel and Coveney, Aidan, The linguistic marking of identity among young people in Brittany, Revue Parole, 14, 2000, p93 - 126
Rachel Hoare, Linguistic competence and regional identity in Brittany: attitudes and perceptions of identity, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 21, (4), 2000, p324 - 347
The relationship between language and attitudes in Brittany: The attitudes and perceptions of young Bretons in, editor(s)Steven McGill , Language and Marginality, Exeter, Elm Bank Publications, 2000, pp27 - 46, [Rachel Hoare]
Rachel Hoare, L'identité linguistique des jeunes en Bretagne, Brittany, Brud Emgleo, 2000, 1 - 80pp
The Breton language in education in Brittany: The passive and active expression of attitudes in, editor(s)Nicholas Ostler , Endangered Languages and Education, Ireland, Foundation for Endangered Languages, 1999, pp25 , [Hoare, Rachel]
Rachel Hoare, 'Anytime I need her she's there with good ideas, she's always there to listen to me: Befriendee and befriender experiences of the Spirasi befriending programme for survivors of torture in Ireland, Trinity College and Spirasi, September, 2022, p1 - 41
Strangers Quickly Become Friends: Befriending as Humanising Practice for Survivors of Torture in Ireland in, editor(s)Agnes Maillot and Fiona Murphy , Racism,anti-racism and forced displacement in Ireland, Ireland, DCU Press, 2026, [Rachel Hoare]
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Robbie Gilligan and Rachel Hoare, Gender Disparities and Disability: Identifying barriers for inclusion specific to girls with disabilities in Togo, Togo, 2019
Research Expertise
Description
I have been developing what I believe is a new, multidisciplinary, practice-led field of multi-disciplinary research at the intersection of forced migration studies, trauma psychology and arts-based inquiry, with real-world impact, internationally recognised publications and theoretical sophistication. My PhD and first monograph, on adolescent language and identity in Brittany, established this interest; my second, Psychological Support for Refugee Adolescents (Routledge, 2025), is the first book-length synthesis of expressive arts approaches to refugee adolescent trauma recovery; a third, a book proposal on supporting unaccompanied minors through trauma, is now under review with Routledge. Across this work I have developed a composite narrative methodology, combining clinical case material into anonymised composites that protect confidentiality: my central methodological innovation. My clinical practice as an expressive arts psychotherapist with unaccompanied minors underpins this research and shapes training for social workers, educators, lawyers and residential care staff. In 2022 I founded the Centre for Forced Migration Studies (CFMS) at Trinity, extending this work across GBHI, Global Health, Peace Studies, Education and Linguistics, internationally with Boston College and UC San Diego. I lead BEFRIEND, a transnational consortium of Trinity and five NGOs supporting refugees. My Research Ireland New Foundations-funded work at Spirasi led directly to a new survivor-support role at the organisation. I have delivered keynotes at Global South Arts and Health Week (Qatar, 2024) and the 27th Wole Soyinka Lecture (2025). As PI, I hold a Research Ireland New Foundations grant, a Doctoral Award for Refugee Thrive funding four researchers, two Long Room Hub RIS awards, and an Erasmus+ partnership grant (400,000). This trajectory has been recognised through two Research Excellence Award nominations. Across research, practice, teaching and leadership, my work centres on one sustained commitment: care for young people navigating displacement and trauma, sustained across a career that included four periods of maternity leave.Projects
- Title
- Heritage, identity and psychological well-being: the voices of migrant children
- Summary
- This one day conference brought together students scholars and practitioners across the disciplines of psychology, sociology, education, social work and childhood research, to explore the voices of migrant children.
- Funding Agency
- Research Incentive Scheme, Trinity Long Room Hub
- Date From
- September 2016
- Date To
- November 2016
- Title
- Using inclusive research practices to understand, affirm and improve the befriending experiences and integration opportunities of refugees, international protection applicants and asylum seekers
- Funding Agency
- Irish Research Council
- Date From
- 1st November 2021
- Date To
- 31st August 2022
- Title
- Launch of the Centre for Forced Migration Studies
- Funding Agency
- Trinity Long Room Hub Research Incentive Scheme
- Title
- 'Everyone has a song': an exploration of the role of song sharing in deepening the befriending experiences and improving the integration opportunities of Survivors of Torture in Ireland
- Summary
- Befriending programmes which match people with limited support networks with volunteers who offer emotional and practical support, friendship and integration opportunities, provide an important resource for survivors of torture (Chambon, et al. 2001). Spirasi, the (Irish) National Centre for the Rehabilitation of Survivors of Torture, offers a befriending programme as part of their holistic approach to rehabilitation. Although there is growing evidence of the positive impact of the expressive arts in psychotherapy with torture survivors (Dutton, 2017), there is very little empirical research which evaluates its use in other aspects of the rehabilitation process such as befriending.
- Funding Agency
- Arts and Social Sciences Benefactions Fund
Recognition
Representations
Invited Expert, Expert Advisory Committee, UNHCR Supportive Spaces project: Embedding a Trauma-Informed Approach in the Provision of Accommodation for People Seeking Asylum in Ireland
Invited Expert Consultant, UNHCR Ireland: providing specialist training and consultancy on trauma-informed approaches to working with forcibly displaced people
Practice Consultant, Separated Children's Unit, Tusla
Advisory Board Member, EPIC (Empowering People in Care) "Be Strong" research project on the experiences of separated children seeking international protection in Ireland
Ethics Advisor, Advisory Board, Youth Climate Justice (EU Horizon-funded, ERC grant 101088453), University College Cork
Academic and Clinical Adviser, Coordinating Committee, Young Leaders for Arts and Health (YLAH) Ireland Summit, Dublin
Pracitioner Adviser and Co-Director, Refugee Mind workshop series on refugee mental health
Journal special issue reviewer, Irish Journal of Sociology
Journal article reviewer, Children and Youth Services Review
Awards and Honours
Provost's Teaching Award, Trinity College, Dublin
Civic Engagement Award, Trinity College, Dublin.
Teaching Hero Award 2021
Memberships
Accredited member of Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy
Global Network of Psychologists for Human Rights