Stella O'Malley

Her 2015 book Cotton Wool Kids advises parents against being over-protective and to be more relaxed about raising their children.[3] Her 2017 book Bully-Proof Kids uses case studies to analyse bullying, which she defines as "meanness from someone with more power than you, that is repeated over time", so as to empower children in their social networks.[4][5] Her 2019 book Fragile calls for a "new wave of authentic and appropriate mental health discussions".[6][7] O'Malley said: "There's a power in being fragile now. You get attention and you get status from it in the way that people once did from their yachts and cars."[8] All 3 books were on the Irish best sellers list.

O'Malley is a regular contributor to the Sunday Independent, Irish Independent and Evening Standard among others.[9]

O'Malley published an article "Bill to ban conversion therapy poses problems for therapists", co-authored with psychologist Jacky Grainer and GP Madeleine Ní Dhailigh, in the Irish Times. The Union of Students in Ireland resolved to boycott the Irish Times because of O'Malley's article.[10]

Her 2018 Channel 4 documentary Trans Kids: It's Time To Talk[11] tackles the topic of gender dysphoria, and includes her own experience: she had been certain she was a boy from the age of four, but due to puberty, an "absolute train wreck", she stopped identifying as a boy in her early teens.[12][13][14]

She has been the resident psychotherapist for two TV programmes, "Raised by the Village",[15] on Irish TV channel RTÉ1, and on a TG4 parenting show in Irish, Cad Faoi Na Tuismitheoirí.[16]

In June 2021, O'Malley founded Genspect, a support group for parents concerned about their children's treatment for gender issues.[17][18][19] Genspect held a Detrans Awareness Day in March 2022.[20] Detransitioner Sinéad Watson is an advisor to the group.[20]

In March 2022, O'Malley would have appeared at an NHS conference on gender dysphoria at Great Ormond Street Hospital, alongside paediatrician Hilary Cass, journalist Helen Joyce, CEO of Mermaids Susie Green, and academic Lisa Littman. The event was cancelled following complaints by trans rights activists, who accused a majority of the speakers as having a "record of extreme prejudice towards trans people". In response, Genspect said the conference "would have centred on moderate and well-informed voices at a pivotal moment in the UK, as the interim Cass Review seeks to establish a more coherent treatment model for young people who are questioning their gender."[2]

In 2019 O'Malley hosted a parenting podcast ‘Secrets of the Mother World’ with the Jungian analyst Lisa Marchiano.[21] She currently hosts a podcast called ‘Gender: A Wider Lens’ with US therapist Sasha Ayad.[22]