I am currently a freelance behaviour consultant offering support in mainstream and alternative provision settings (as well as being "at the chalk-face" and continuing to teach). I was previously a Therapeutic Education Consultant at a Young Offenders Institution and an associate member of their Senior Leadership Team. I spent five years as a Director of Teaching and Learning for Behaviour in a large inner-city academy, running an educational provision for students at risk of exclusion and training mainstream teachers in classroom management and teaching pedagogy. I have spent my teaching and leadership career in three of the most deprived London boroughs, specialising in behaviour and SEMH and have been operational at every level from whole-school standards "enforcer" to individual therapeutic work. As a pastoral lead, I'm experienced in working with key external agencies, particularly CAMHS, social services, educational psychologists and the police. My teaching has consistently been judged as outstanding, including by HMI on multiple occasions.
I believe in lifelong learning and particularly in bringing the worlds of mental health and education closer together. Some examples of recent CPD I've attended and courses I've completed are as follows:
Transforming Psychological Therapies - Dr Peter Fonagy Working with children in care and post-adoption - Dr Katherine Mautner What has Neuroscience taught us about trauma? - Dr Eamon McCrory Working with trauma from multiple perspectives - Dr David Trickey Understanding County Lines and Exploitation of Young People - webinar with Craig Pinkney, hosted by MyConcern Mental Health: The Unfinished Project - Dr Marc Bush Suicide and Self-harm: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry online seminar ResearchEd national conference 2019 Understanding ADHD: Current Research and Practice - 4 week course, Kings College London Mental Health Question Time: physical health - panel discussion at UCL
Check out the Resources section for some useful related reading, listening and viewing!