Background Information
Professional Qualifications
I first trained in Early child Care, this provided me with the stepping-stones for beginning to understand how children develop and what they need in order to thrive and reach their full potential.
I later completed a degree in Psychology. During the course I completed a project in a school where I looked at the impact of memory training programmes on improving working memory recall of 5-6year olds. My findings were, that those that had the learnt skills and confidence to be able to attempt the memory training showed great improvement. Those that were unsure of the task, had little belief in themselves, found it a much harder task and I began to notice a pattern between those that felt they couldn’t achieve and those that showed little improvement.
I have worked with children for 15 years in different settings including 8 years in schools. I have good knowledge of the education system and current legislation. Settling to learn can be a real challenge for some children. I recognise the difficulties that children come across inside school and outside of school.
I took on the role of learning mentor, working in a school to support children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties - a term which later became Social and Emotional Mental health. I joined the safeguarding team to think and reflect together on the needs of the families in our care. I have also had had the privilege to work with young people who have experienced a bereavement, those exposed or living with domestic abuse, children with physical illness or disability, school refuser's, young carer’s and those with social and communication difficulties.
I trained as an Educational psychotherapist at the Caspari Foundation. My training involved a year’s baby observation, a nursery observation and a two year placement at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) where I provided therapy to children and young people.
I began working as an Educational Psychotherapist in schools and privately to support young people and their families, this involved long term therapeutic work, providing reflective space for the child/young person.
In addition to this, I discovered I loved working with groups of children in a school setting, I began running weekly therapeutic groups for children that combined the expression of art, drama, creativity and feelings, as a form of getting children interested in writing.
I recently set up a nurture group Nurture UK to support the emotional wellbeing of children in school. With the concept of looking at behaviour as a communication from the young person and with play at the centre of the children's learning, we became a supportive group to work together to understand why the classroom and learning were so difficult for the children and young people.
Through my work with Nurture groups, I identified a need for supporting the parents and carers alongside work with young people. Most recently I now offer a confidential space to parents/guardian's wanting to reflect on their own interactions with their child.
Areas of Specialism
I work with:
- Children who have experienced trauma or bereavement.
- Children who are starting to present with challenging behaviours.
- Difficulties in school settling to learn and make age-appropriate progress.
- Children who have difficulty making relationships with adults or peers.
- Children who appear ‘stuck’ in their learning and in retaining information.
- Parents /Carers who are concerned about their child's progress.
- Parent/sCarers who have a 'feeling' that their child might need somebody outside of the family to talk to.
- Foster carers who want to understand their young person better.
- Parents who want a space to reflect on their interactions with their child.
- Schools who are concerned about the academic and emotional needs of a child.
- Schools with children at risk of exclusion.
- Class teachers who may want to reflect on a child's acting -out behaviours.
Personal Approach
I am patient, non-judgemental and committed to supporting children and families.
I am Psychodynamically trained which simply means that the most important part of the work is the therapeutic relationship between myself and the child/young person. It is through the reciprocal relationship built, that we can begin to explore together, to put two minds together, to think about the struggles they might be experiencing and to make sense of their world.
