Working with an educational psychologist
The work of an educational psychologist
We can support across a range of areas that have an impact on your school experience, including feelings, learning and friendships. We have all completed or are working towards a qualification in educational psychology.
We work for children and young people aged 0 to 25. We might meet with you and/or your teachers and parent or carer.
What might happen when you work with an educational psychologist
We may meet with you at school or at home. When we meet, we will do some activities together and we might visit you in your classroom to help us to understand how best to support you. It is important for us to get to know you, because your views and ideas can help us understand how to help you grow and be at your best.
We will work with you, your family or carer and school to make a plan. You may want to take part in the meeting where we think together about the plan or you may prefer us to share your hopes and ideas. Working together with you is important. We will listen to you carefully and treat you with respect. This is an important part of the work we do. We understand that it might feel scary or uncomfortable talking to us. When we meet will think about this together.
Usually, we will work with you one or two times. We might work with you again when we come back to your school to see how the plan we created with you is going. Sometimes, we might work with you over a longer time. In this case, we will let you know how many times and how often we will work with you.
You might see us around, as we will be working with other children and young people in your school. If you see us, feel free to give us a wave or to pretend you don’t know us. We know that you may or may not want your classmates to know you have worked with us, so we won’t say hello unless we know you feel comfortable.
What to do if you need help and support
We work with schools to decide who works with an educational psychologist in our team. We think about lots of things when making a decision. If you think it would be helpful to work with an educational psychologist, you could talk to your parent, carer or your teacher or SENCo at school.
If you are struggling or worried about your mental health, you could talk to your parent, carer, someone you trust at school or your GP. You can also contact organisations that can provide urgent support.