Chief Executive Officer
Allison Graham has led the development and growth of Saoirse since its inception in 2006 to its extensive expansion in 2019. She served as Refuge Manager from 2006 and was promoted to CEO in 2019. She previously worked with Aoibhneas Women’s and Children’s Refuge in North Dublin and established their first outreach service before being promoted to Refuge Manager.
Allison has served on a number of Voluntary sector boards including as Chair and Director of the Tallaght Childcare Centre and was a member of the Tallaght Homeless Advice Unit Board before it became part of Focus Ireland. She also served on Steering committees with the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Tusla’s Domestic, Sexual and Gender based Violence department.
As well as her board experience Allison has extensive management, HR, policy writing and implementation, company mergers, strategic planning, budgets and charity reporting experience.
She was awarded a Postgraduate H.Dip in Counselling from UCC and is a qualified and accredited Counsellor with the Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (IACP) since 2011.
Allison holds a BA Hons degree in Sociology and Psychology from University College Cork, and a Postgraduate H.Dip in Business and Management from UCD Michael Smurfit College.
