Values and Experience

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My  experiences as Head of an Early Years service and as an Early Years Regional Advisor for the National Strategies, (those were the days!) have afforded me opportunities to use psychology directly in the work place, in particular in supporting colleagues using a solution focused approach. In addition, the experience of working in depth in one field of education, and nominally one stage of development, has reinforced my fundamental beliefs in what works best for children and young people: that is a strong sense of self and ability with opportunities to be creative and resourceful. Such qualities enable all children to achieve, particularly the most vulnerable.

As a result of these experiences I have a deeper understanding of education systems and the external factors which impact, ultimately, upon children's learning experiences, building inclusive practice and ensuring that individual children and young people achieve to become happy, safe, secure and successful in later life. 

Throughout my career I have worked with families in finding the best ways of supporting their children. This has often been face to face but I also have worked with groups of parents in developing their own self esteem and confidence in being parents. Through my work with SureStart and Children's Centres I have developed strategies for the delivery of family support to vulnerable parents. Such work is relevant to parents of the very young through school phases and beyond. Working within KS3 and 4 to help future generations of parents to understand the needs of the very young, and the vulnerable has been  a focus of my  work.

I have experience and skills of working with all ages and phases within education. I work with school colleagues to problem solve and devise appropriate strategies to adopt, often influencing organisational change to meet the needs of the individual and in embedding inclusive practice. These challenges require sensitivity and empathy. I deliver training  for colleagues in Mediation and Peer Supervision as part of organizational work in developing whole school nurturing.

Whilst a specialist senior psychologist I worked as part of a specialist multi disciplinary Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team supporting the educational needs and school liaison of children and young people with profound mental health difficulties. Attachment and meaningful, significant relationships proved, in this work, to be the fundamentals to strive for, and strengthened my conviction that this had to be the underpinning focus of individual and group work. Such conviction later impacted upon the early years strategy for which I had responsibility in developing within a local authority and in my work as a regional advisor with the National Strategies.

Early Years

My position as an Early Years Regional Advisor with the National Strategies allowed me to work at close quarters with the development of programmes at a national level and to have some influence on their interpretation and delivery. I was a co author of the Social and Emotional Aspects of Development (SEAD) documents published by DCSF in 2008, which underpinned the philosophies of the Early Years Foundation Stage. I supported the implementation of Every Child A Talker within local authorities. 

Emotional Development and Behaviour

I have a specialist interest and expertise in the emotional development of children and young people. I have managed projects for the Local Authority (LA) as part of the Education Development Plan and Behaviour Support Plan, developed research protocols and implemented them. Of particular practical relevance was the introduction, monitoring and evaluation of Nurture Groups at primary level and the notion of the nurturing school at all phases. Another project looked at the impact of introducing Quality Circle Time into a secondary school, ensuring that such practical activities spread into schools to support children's emotional and social development. The final report of this research was presented to the Department for Education and Skills and has been included in a publication from Positive Press.