About HAPii

At HAPii – Healing Attachment Play Institute Ireland, we believe that healing happens through safe relationships, playful connection, and attuned care. Children’s emotional worlds are shaped by the adults who hold, guide, and nurture them—especially during times of stress, separation, and transition. Our work is grounded in this understanding and in a deep respect for the child’s inner experience.

HAPii was founded by Dr. Lisa O’Reilly, an experienced Guardian ad Litem, child psychologist, play therapist, and social work specialist, following more than two decades of direct practice with children, families, and professionals across child protection, foster care, and therapeutic settings.

Dr. O’Reilly’s doctoral research into play-based attachment interventions led to the development of Playful Bonds: Connect, Heal, Release—HAPii’s signature psychoeducational programme. This programme now forms the heart of our training and reflects a lifelong commitment to ensuring that children’s voices, emotional safety, and developmental needs remain central to care, decision-making, and healing.

Who We Support

HAPii exists to support those who support children.

We work with:

  • Foster carers and kinship carers

  • Birth parents navigating contact and reunification

  • Social workers and Guardians ad Litem

  • Psychologists, therapists, and counsellors

  • Educators and childcare professionals

Our courses go beyond theory. We provide practical tools, emotional insight, and trauma-informed strategies that can be used immediately in real-world caregiving and professional practice. Everything we deliver is grounded in neuroscience, attachment theory, and therapeutic play, and shaped by lived experience with children and families.

How We Work

We blend clinical expertise with creativity and compassion, delivering high-quality learning through accessible digital platforms supported by our in-house technology and education team. Our approach is relational, reflective, and deeply respectful of the complexity of children’s lives.

Whether you are new to therapeutic caregiving or a seasoned professional, HAPii offers a space to connect, heal, and grow—personally and professionally.

Our Foundations

HAPii is built on nationally recognised, evidence-based work developed over more than a decade, including:

  • Play Skills Training Programme for Professionals (2012)

  • CFA National Model: Linking Attachment to Practice (2015)

  • The Child Attachment Relationship Guide (2021)

  • Ongoing national research and training in family contact and children’s voices (2024–present)

Everything We Deliver Is Informed By:

  • Attachment theory

  • Trauma-informed care

  • Developmental psychology

  • Therapeutic and symbolic play

  • Lived practice with children and families