Ms Karen O'Mahony:

Two years ago we identified that we could take in students. We had taken in students from University College Cork and the Crawford Art Gallery. One of the art therapy students who has come out and is qualified will come on board with us. Having students is valuable as well because you are not just giving them experience and a skill set but they are also getting the practical stuff during their time with us. That is another part of what the ladies were saying a while ago about the schools and colleges and about training programmes. Maybe it could be incorporated into their placements and they could be placed in schools and special school settings so that they can experience the practical side as much as the theory base.

Recruiting students is probably the way the next three to five years is going to have to go. We have already started identifying where we can bring students in and will start looking at recruiting them then.