Rebecca is from Dundalk. She completed her undergraduate in English and History in UCD, before completing a Professional Diploma in Education and qualifying as a secondary school teacher. While working as an English and History teacher, Rebecca encountered students with a range of communication and literacy difficulties and disorders and became interested in knowing more about communication and how to support children with communication difficulties. Rebecca then returned to education to complete a Masters degree in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Limerick.
While at the University of Limerick, Rebecca participated in the Visiting Aphasia Programme, an initiative to support adults in the community with communication difficulties following acquired brain injuries, and acted as a conversation partner. She completed her thesis on the treatment burden experienced by people with an acquired or progressive neurological disorder undergoing dysphagia management.