Information for young people

What is an educational psychologist?

I am someone who visits schools to work with teachers, parents and pupils. I try to help people think of ways to make school a better place for you to learn and be happy.

Why have you been asked to help?

Your school, your parents/carers, or you have asked for help to improve things in school.

What can you do for me?

I can think of ways to help make things better for you in school. You may want help with things like learning, communicating your needs, making friends or discussing something that is upsetting you.

I also work with other people to make sure that you feel supported in all areas of your life.

How do you get involved?

This is usually done through your school, working with you and your parents/carers. When there are concerns these should be responded to in the first instance by school staff. They should record these concerns and look at ways of addressing them in school. If this has happened and the situation has not got better, then a Request for Assistance (RfA) can be made to our service. Parents and carers will be asked to agree to this process. In most situations, where a young person is aged 12 years or over, you will be asked to sign a form to say you understand and agree to this request.

The requests are looked at by a panel. When a request is accepted parents /carers and the young person will be informed of this by letter. The case will be allocated to an educational psychologist who will contact the school and arrange a time to meet.

If a request is not accepted those involved will be informed of why this decision was made by letter.

Where will I meet you?

You would usually meet me first with people who work with you at school and your parents/carers to discuss the concerns using a process called consultation. This could be online or in person. In some situations, I may visit your classroom to see what the lessons are like, have a chat or do some activities together. It may be that involvement is through the consultations.

What happens next?

When we meet for the first time we will come up with a plan to try to make things better. We will meet again at a later date to see how the plan is working. We will finish working with you once things have improved.