Thought Appraisal
Notice the thought. Name the pattern. Examine what shaped it and whether it still serves you.
Psychology for the moments that shape us
Reclaim authorship over what happens next.
Practical mental-health education and organisational insight, informed by doctoral research and 22 years of Irish Defence Forces experience.
Choose your starting point
Different settings. The same need for trustworthy human systems.
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Leaders and organisations
Culture, trust, psychological safety, organisational risk and change.
Explore organisational work →02Educators and professional groups
Practical talks, workshops and learning for people who support others.
Explore talks and training →03Individuals navigating pressure
Thought appraisal, emotional regulation and greater psychological authorship.
Explore the book →The central idea
We are not passive recipients of our thoughts. But neither do we think in isolation. Our histories, identities, relationships and environments all enter the room.
Emotional Regulation
Create enough psychological space to move from automatic reaction toward an intentional response.
Speaking, workshops & training
Ideas become useful when they change what happens next.
Keynotes & talks
Evidence-informed talks for conferences, leadership groups, professional bodies and teams on mental health, help-seeking, psychological safety and organisational behaviour.
Email an enquiryWorkshops & training
Practical learning for leaders, educators, veterans, emergency services and teams working in demanding environments, tailored to the audience and organisational context.
Email an enquiryOPA assessment & consultancy
Structured work examining trust, voice, risk, adaptive behaviour and the gap between formal organisational policy and lived experience.
Email an enquirySelected topics
Select a topic to learn what Dan can deliver for your audience or organisation.
Talks, workshops & training topics
Research translated into practical learning.
Every engagement is adapted to the audience, setting and challenge. Sessions can be delivered as talks, facilitated workshops, leadership briefings or tailored training.
Mental health and help-seeking
An evidence-informed examination of why recognising distress does not automatically lead to disclosure or support, and how stigma, trust, confidentiality, identity and anticipated career consequences shape help-seeking.
- Relevant foundation
- Draws on Dan’s doctoral research with 687 serving Defence Forces personnel and 12 years of confidential one-to-one help provision as an Employee Assistance Practitioner.
- Suitable for
- Military and veteran communities, emergency services, educators, managers, professional bodies and organisations seeking more credible support pathways.
Psychological safety and trust
Explores the conditions that influence whether people speak, ask for help, challenge decisions, admit uncertainty or remain silent. The focus is on how everyday organisational experience either builds trust or teaches caution.
- Relevant foundation
- Grounded in research on help-seeking, confidentiality and organisational silence, alongside practical experience supporting personnel within a hierarchical command environment.
- Suitable for
- Leadership teams, HR and people functions, safety-critical organisations, public services and teams working in demanding or high-consequence settings.
Leadership, culture and silence
Examines why formal values, policies and reform programmes do not necessarily change behaviour. Participants consider how power, informal norms, leadership responses and organisational memory shape what people believe is genuinely safe and possible.
- Relevant foundation
- Informed by 22 years of Defence Forces service, doctoral research on military culture and help-seeking, adult education, team leadership and Dan’s development of OPA.
- Suitable for
- Senior leaders, line managers, governance groups, change teams, military and uniformed services, and organisations undertaking cultural reform.
Decision-making under pressure
A practical exploration of how stress, threat, cognitive load, emotion, identity and learned patterns influence judgement. Sessions develop the capacity to notice automatic reactions, create psychological space and choose a more intentional response.
- Relevant foundation
- Connects Dan’s experience as a firefighter, crew commander, medic, combat medic, rugby coach and educator with the Thought Appraisal and Emotional Regulation model developed in The Cognitive Gorilla.
- Suitable for
- Emergency responders, leaders, operational teams, athletes, educators and anyone required to make consequential decisions under pressure.
Trauma-informed organisational practice
Moves beyond individual awareness to examine how organisations can respond to distress and trauma without increasing shame, uncertainty or loss of control. The emphasis is on safety, dignity, predictability, appropriate boundaries and pathways to support.
- Relevant foundation
- Draws on frontline emergency response, operational medicine, critical-incident support, post-traumatic growth research, decompression training and long-term personnel support work.
- Suitable for
- Managers, educators, support services, emergency organisations, veteran services and teams whose work involves exposure to trauma, crisis or human vulnerability.
Commercial framework
OPA
Organisational Psychological Architecture
OPA makes visible the pathway between the organisation people are formally told exists and the organisation they actually experience.
The problem
Policies, values and training can change while behaviour remains the same. People adapt to the consequences they experience, not simply to the rules they are shown.
The assessment
OPA examines formal architecture, lived experience, psychological interpretation, adaptive behaviour, organisational response and the forces that reinforce, revise or reverse change.
The output
Leaders receive a structured account of the gaps shaping trust, voice, safety and performance, with clear priorities for credible organisational action.
Ways to engage
Executive briefings, keynote talks, facilitated workshops, organisational assessment, training and strategic consultancy.
National conceptual framework
Defence Forces Integrated Mental Health Governance Framework
DF-IMHGF
An independent, evidence-informed proposal for the entire Irish Defence Forces, developed to support major cultural change in how poor mental health is understood, experienced and supported.
Whole-system mental health governance
A whole-system framework for the journey through poor mental health.
DF-IMHGF conceptualises mental-health support as a connected journey rather than a collection of isolated services. It considers what happens before distress is recognised, when help is first sought, as needs move between peer, command, welfare, medical and specialist supports, and during treatment, recovery, return to work and continuing service.
The framework is designed for the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service and recognises that meaningful change requires coordinated action at multiple levels. It brings together individual need, peer and family support, leadership behaviour, unit culture, confidential help provision, clinical pathways, organisational governance and national accountability.
Its purpose is to help create a Defence Forces system in which personnel can recognise difficulty, seek support earlier, move safely between appropriate levels of care and experience consistent standards regardless of rank, location or service branch.
DF-IMHGF is Dr Dan Fitzpatrick's independent conceptual and policy contribution. It is not current Defence Forces policy and has not been presented as an officially adopted or endorsed framework.
Governance and accountability
Clear ownership, responsibilities, standards, oversight and routes for learning when provision does not work as intended.
Culture and leadership
Leadership practice and unit conditions that reduce stigma, strengthen trust and make appropriate help-seeking professionally safe.
Connected support pathways
Coordinated movement between peers, families, commanders, welfare and EAP supports, primary care and specialist mental-health services.
Suicide prevention
A systematic approach to leadership, training, identification, engagement, treatment, safe transitions and continuous improvement.
Data and evaluation
Reliable evidence on need, access, outcomes, barriers and variation across the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service.
Recovery and continued service
Support for treatment, reintegration, return to work and the preservation of dignity, identity and sustainable military participation.
Research foundation
Developed from a mixed-methods PhD investigating mental health and help-seeking across the Irish Defence Forces, including a survey of 687 serving personnel and stakeholder evidence concerning stigma, confidentiality, trust, career consequences, service pathways and organisational data gaps.
Read the doctoral researchResearch & applied work
Evidence shaped by service, education and lived organisational experience.
Mental Health in the Military
A mixed-methods investigation of mental health and help-seeking behaviours in the Irish Defence Forces.
Read the complete PhD
Post-traumatic growth
An interpretative phenomenological study connected with Irish Naval Service personnel involved in Operation PONTUS.
Decompression training
Designed, developed and delivered at home and overseas for personnel connected with operations in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Mediterranean.
Writing & insights
Research, service and the systems that shape behaviour.
Before joining the Irish Defence Forces, Dr Dan studied journalism at Senior College Ballyfermot in Dublin. That early training in asking difficult questions, finding the human story and communicating clearly continues to shape his writing today.
Dr Dan publishes a new article every Monday, examining military mental health, organisational psychology, leadership, trust, culture and psychological autonomy.
Explore the complete article archive01020304
Organisational psychology
A Poster is Not Cultural Change
Making visible the structures, signals and consequences that teach people what is safe, valued and possible at work.Read on LinkedInGovernance and evidence
When Workplace Mental Health Moves from Wellbeing to Safety Governance
A challenge to organisations to connect policy claims with transparent evidence, accountable systems and demonstrable change.Read on LinkedInOrganisational psychology
What Have We Actually Learned About Changing Organisational Culture?
Making visible the structures, signals and consequences that teach people what is safe, valued and possible at work.Read on LinkedInGovernance and evidence
When Military Mental Health Research Exists, but the Evidence Architecture Does Not
A challenge to organisations to connect policy claims with transparent evidence, accountable systems and demonstrable change.Read on LinkedIn
Available now
The Cognitive Gorilla
Reclaiming Authorship Over the Mind
At seventeen, an event changed the direction of Dan Fitzpatrick's life. The Cognitive Gorilla grew from the long journey that followed, through panic attacks, rugby, military service, education, research and recovery.
Drawing together personal experience and psychological insight, the book introduces a two-movement mental model of Thought Appraisal and Emotional Regulation. Through metacognition and emotional literacy, it explores how we can recognise the patterns shaping our responses and reclaim greater authorship over what happens next.
KindlePaperbackHardcover
Watch the 60-second film About the founder
Dr Dan Fitzpatrick
Dan is an educator, mental-health researcher and Irish Defence Forces veteran. He currently teaches Employment-Based Training at National Learning Network College East, supporting neurodivergent learners to identify their strengths, develop employment skills and prepare for meaningful participation in working life. Before joining the military, he studied journalism at Senior College Ballyfermot in Dublin. Across 22 years of Irish Air Corps service, he worked in personnel support, operational medicine, emergency response, team leadership, training and organisational support.
From 2020 to 2023, Dan served as Welfare Officer for the Aero Region of the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA), supporting members and gaining direct insight into the welfare concerns affecting Defence Forces personnel.
From 2012 to 2023, he served as an Employee Assistance Practitioner within the Personnel Support Service, providing confidential initial assessment, guidance and referral across ranks. He holds instructor-level qualifications in STORM, Critical Incident Stress Management, Mental Health First Aid and Wellness Recovery Action Planning.
The Cognitive Gorilla was established and registered in Ireland in 2020 as a platform for Dr Dan Fitzpatrick’s work in psychological education, organisational research and mental-health governance.
His work is educational and organisational. He does not present himself as a psychologist or provide psychological diagnosis, therapy or emergency clinical care.
Connect with Dan on LinkedInProfessional experience
Frontline service, confidential help provision and adult education.
Employee Assistance Practitioner
Personnel Support Service, Irish Air Corps. Confidential support, initial assessment, guidance and referral; mental-health promotion; team management; cross-agency work; and advice within a command environment shaped by confidentiality, fitness for duty, career identity and trust.
Medic and Combat Medic
Irish Air Corps and UNIFIL Peacekeeping Mission, Lebanon, including overseas service from 2010 to 2011. Frontline assessment, emergency response, patient support and medical training in operational settings.
Firefighter and Crew Commander
Emergency response and team leadership in a regulated aviation environment, including fires, airfield emergencies, road traffic incidents, flooding and hazardous-substance events.
Rugby Coach and Mental-Health Education Lead
Clondalkin Rugby Club. Coached senior and junior teams and delivered education on youth mental health, resilience, self-care, suicide awareness, leadership and supporting others.
Education
From social care and adult education to advanced mental-health research.
Diploma in Employment and Social Care
University of Galway
BA (Hons) in Education and Training
National University of Ireland, Galway
MSc in Mental Health
Trinity College Dublin
PhD
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin · 2026
Mental Health in the Military: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Mental Health and Help-Seeking Behaviours in the Irish Defence Forces
Read the complete PhD in Trinity's research repositoryProfessional teaching & training
Dan's work extended across the full military career cycle and combined formal group education with confidential one-to-one help provision.
Personnel, organisations and settings
Recruits, cadets, apprentices, personnel attending career courses, unit-level groups, Emergency Air Support personnel, and members of the Irish Air Corps, Army and Naval Service.
This experience also informs work with leaders, managers, teams, educators, emergency services, public-sector organisations, sporting environments and workplaces operating under pressure, particularly where trust, psychological safety, mental health, decision-making and organisational culture influence performance.
Issues addressed
Bullying and harassmentDepression and anxietyPTSD and traumaSuicide and self-harmAlcohol and drug misuseRape and sexual traumaGrief and bereavementStress and critical incidentsHelp-seeking and stigmaConfidentiality and career concernsLine-management difficultiesInterpersonal and workplace conflictCoping and emotional regulationReferral and support pathwaysDeployment reintegration
Select an area to read about Dan's previous teaching and delivery experience.
STORM: Skills Based Training on Risk ManagementCritical Incident Stress ManagementMental Health First AidWellness Recovery Action PlanningDecompression and reintegration training
STORM: Skills Based Training on Risk Management
Instructor-level qualified
Dan taught STORM suicide-prevention skills as part of his mental-health and help-provision work, supporting participants to approach difficult conversations, recognise concern and respond more confidently when someone may be at risk.
Critical Incident Stress Management
Instructor-level qualified
His CISM teaching drew on frontline experience as a firefighter, medic and EAP practitioner, helping personnel understand common responses to critical incidents and the importance of timely peer and organisational support.
Mental Health First Aid
Instructor-level qualified
Dan did not deliver official Mental Health First Aid courses. He applied the principles in one-to-one work with soldiers, helping individuals create personal psychological first-aid boxes, identify practical coping strategies and recognise the supports available to them.
Wellness Recovery Action Planning
Instructor-level qualified
His WRAP teaching used a recovery-oriented approach to help people identify personal resources, recognise signs that additional support may be needed and develop practical plans for maintaining wellbeing.
Decompression and reintegration
Dan designed, developed and delivered decompression training at home and overseas for personnel connected with deployments to Syria, Lebanon and Israel, as well as Operation PONTUS. The work addressed emotional regulation, difficult conversations, learned helplessness, reintegration and the transition back to family life.
Additional qualifications
FETAC Level 6 Mental Health AwarenessFETAC Level 5 Addiction StudiesCertificate in MindfulnessRestorative PracticeDefence Forces Medics CourseFirefighter and Crew Commander CoursesDiploma in Fitness InstructionDiploma in Media and Journalism
Talks, workshops & organisational work
Bring a real challenge.
Let's examine what is shaping it.
Dan is available for conferences, leadership briefings, workshops, training and OPA engagements in Ireland and internationally.
Or email directly: dan@thecognitivegorilla.ie
Professional profile
A concise introduction for event organisers, partners and organisations.
Professional notice
The Cognitive Gorilla provides education, speaking, training and organisational consultancy. Content on this site is general information and is not psychological diagnosis, therapy, medical advice or emergency support. Anyone in immediate danger should contact local emergency services.
Privacy
The enquiry form uses FormSubmit to deliver your message to Dan by email and does not store entries on this website. Privacy-focused, cookie-free analytics provide anonymous information about website use.
Read the privacy policyIntellectual property
The Cognitive Gorilla, Organisational Psychological Architecture and DF-IMHGF materials are the intellectual work of Dr Dan Fitzpatrick unless otherwise stated. No framework content may be reproduced commercially without permission.