Throughout her career, Cliona has specialised in helping young people navigate high-pressure educational environments in ways that protect both ambition and wellbeing. Her work focuses on creating careers and university guidance programmes that are academically rigorous, student-centred and emotionally sustainable. She has extensive experience supporting students applying to universities and pathways across the UK, Europe, North America and beyond, including highly selective and competitive destinations.

Alongside her school leadership role, Cliona is a regular speaker and writer on careers education, wellbeing and future readiness. She writes Pathways to Success, a LinkedIn newsletter exploring careers guidance, student wellbeing and the changing world of work. She is also a registered Career Development Professional with the Career Development Institute (CDI) and the National Career Development Association (NCDA), a British Council UK Certified Counsellor and a Times Higher Education Certified Counsellor.

Her work is driven by a belief that careers education should help young people not only achieve success but also build lives that are healthy, meaningful and sustainable.