Happy 2020

Ngā mihi o te tau hou. Happy New Year to you all.  I hope 2020 is a wonderful year full of great learning and development opportunities.  I thought for this first blog of the year I’d talk about my role as an educational psychologist and how I work to support parents and young people along with other professionals to ensure education is accessible and enjoyable.

My work as an  educational psychologist includes identifying, assessing and supporting children and young people with additional needs.  I work across education, social services and health sectors. Educational psychology training is based in human development, applied behaviour analysis, psychological assessment and research, counselling theory and practice and we work to support the learning and wellbeing of young people, whanau, communities and wider society.  

Anyone calling themselves a psychologist in New Zealand must be registered by the New Zealand Psychologist’s board.  If you would like to work with a psychologist, educational or other you can find their registration details here http://www.psychologistsboard.org.nz/search-the-register.  For consumers of our services it can be quite confusing to make a decision on who is the best person to see.  There are many people offering support services to children and their families who are in fact not suitably qualified.  The annual registration process provides some reassurance that the person is well qualified and they are keeping up to date with the latest thinking in psychology.  This is very similar to the registration process for teachers.   

I routinely see private clients for assessments of learning and behaviour,  I provide support to other professionals including other psychologists, counsellors, and school leadership regarding students who may have additional needs.   I also write a regular blog on my website https://www.edpsych.co.nz/helpful-ideas  with the aim of providing free support to parents and students/young people who may need some help with either behaviour or learning difficulties.  

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