Working Life: Justin Gleeson — clinical midwife specialist in substance and alcohol misuse, HSE

I care for pregnant women with substance and alcohol misuse issues

Justin Gleeson, Clinical Midwife Specialist in Substance and Alcohol Misuse, HSE, pictured in Galway city. Picture: Ray Ryan

“Growing up in a small rural village in Co Galway, I was heavily influenced by my grandfather, a GP, and my mother, who was a nurse. After my Leaving Cert, I followed in their footsteps and studied nursing at the University of Galway.

“During my training, I always admired the professional autonomy and independent clinical responsibility that midwives had while caring for normal pregnancies and births. I completed a postgraduate diploma in midwifery studies at Trinity College Dublin and practised as a midwife in the labour ward at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital.