Dolores Quinlan - Speaker Profile

Dolores Quinlan

Talk Title: The DNA Journey - perspectives from Irish Adoptees

Biography

Dolores is a psychotherapist. She obtained her degree and Masters in Clinical Psychotherapy from the Tivoli Institute (Dublin). She also holds a diploma in Cross-Professional Supervision. For her Masters, she studied the psychological effect that DNA Testing has on Irish adoptees searching for their biological family. She is an accredited member of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy, and the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapists.

What do you do as a Day Job?

I work in private practice providing psychological support for a wide range of issues including adoption related issues. I provide support before, during and after their search and reunion. I have enjoyed group facilitation and tutoring students in counselling skills in the National University of Ireland Maynooth, and volunteer work with Barnardo’s post adoption services.

My work as a therapist is very rewarding. Being a facilitator of personal growth, I get to witness people transform connecting with themselves on a deeper level becoming a more authentic version of themselves. Its lovely seeing someone evolve having built new resources and self-acceptance discovering a new zest for life. I get to meet courageous and resilient people and sharing their experiences is a real privilege.

What do you do as a Night Job?

I work some evenings in my practice to accommodate clients who are unable to come during 9-5 hours and I have a very energetic 1 year old golden retriever who gets me out in nature. I’m fortunate to live near a river surrounded by acres of land and mature trees which I love to ramble around and recharge. I enjoy going into the city to listen to live music in the smaller venues and I’ve recently returned to school to learn the art of silversmithing and look forward to designing my own creations in the future. It’s a creative outlet that allows me to meet people in an environment that’s completely different to my day job. It’s fun, and through DNA testing I discovered that my great, great grandfather was a tinsmith – may be its genetic.

How did you get into genealogy?

I took a strong interest in genealogy about 4 years ago and became obsessed with it during that time. I’ll say a lot more about this in my presentation. It turns out that I have ancestors who variously owned a horse drawn taxi company, ran a confectionary business and were architects for the pro-cathedral. They are buried in tombs in the basement of the cathedral.

Tell us about your involvement with genetic genealogy

I have tested with all the major companies, but it took quite a while before I got any meaningful matches. It was hugely exciting at first, I was so curious about how all my matches were related to me but trying to understand my matches and how that fitted in was daunting and at times overwhelming. However, over time I made some amazing breakthroughs and discovered things I could never have imagined which ultimately changed my whole life.

What will you be talking about? 

I’ll be talking about working with adoptees on their voyage of DNA discovery and sharing my research gathered from interviews with adoptees, during and after DNA search and re-union, the experiencing of a DNA search when you have nothing to begin with, the emotional roller coaster, stops and starts, and ultimately the psychological experience of going from nothing to suddenly finding your people, your identity.

Where can people get more information about you and the work you do? 

My profile on the Lucan Counselling & Psychotherapy website ... http://lucancounselling.com/counsellors.php?counsellor=4

My profile on the Holisto website ... https://holisto.com/therapist-listing/dolores-quinlan

These lectures are sponsored by FamilyTreeDNA and organised by volunteers from ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy).