Who am I?
I have worked for nearly 20 years as a psychologist supporting children and young people 0-25, including children and young people with a diagnosis of autism, ADHD, or learning disabilities as well as those who have experienced trauma and adverse early life experiences.
In addition to running my private practice, where I work with children and young people experiencing mild-moderate distress, I am currently employed by the NHS as a senior practitioner psychologist in a specialist family service. Until recently I was employed by Exeter university as a Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) tutor on their Children and Young People's-Improving Access to Psychology Therapies postgraduate course. I train VIG practitioners nationally and internationally. I was proud to live and work in Tanzania with my family for 3 months, where I was part of team who started training social workers and psychologists to use VIG with families where the children had run away to live on the city streets.
During the first covid lockdown, I was contracted to work with academic staff at the University of Sussex on an National Institute of Health Research funded project looking at how online therapeutic interventions were similar and different to in person. The study led to the publication of these evidence based guidelines for therapeutic interventions on line.
Training and development
I qualified from Bristol University with a first class honours degree in Psychology. Following a happy teaching career I trained as an Educational Psychologist at University College London. Since then I have qualified as a Video Interaction Guidance practitioner and also enjoy supervising and training VIG practitioners nationally and internationally. I am a trained EMDR practitioner, and have also completed my Child and Adolescent EMDR training.
I maintain my skills through regular CPD and supervision - you can be confident that all my work is carefully supervised.
Registrations
I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist and am a member of the British Psychology Society. I also have a Disclosure and Barring Service check. I am also a member of AVIGuk (the organisation that oversees VIG training and standards) and EMDR UK association.
Mother
As a mother of 3, I understand the joys and challenges of parenting* , the roadblocks that children and young people can experience and how support can help them navigate and learn from them effectively.
* with thanks to my children for the artwork on the website