Service Information:
The Educational Psychology Service (EPS) provides a statutory EP service to Somerset County Council, a core EP service to schools and settings and a range of traded services.
Educational Psychologists have extensive training and experience in working with children, young people and their families. EPs have a first degree in Psychology, and post-graduate study for either a Master’s Degree or a Doctorate in Educational Psychology. During the post-graduate study, Educational Psychologists will have studied child development, the psychology of teaching and learning, special educational needs and disabilities, and the promotion of resilience, emotional well-being and positive mental health.
Educational Psychologists are experts in facilitating change to find a way forward when things feel ‘stuck’. We will work with key adults to tackle challenges such as complex cognition and learning difficulties; language, communication and interaction difficulties; social, emotional and mental health difficulties; issues around disability as well as more complex developmental difficulties. Educational Psychologists can provide support for individual children and young people, as well as provide support at a whole school, systemic level.
We work in a variety of ways and offer problem-solving consultation, advice and support to key adults (i.e. teachers, parents, SENCOs), the wider community, as well as the children and young people concerned. We are committed to working in a ‘person-centred’ way, to support the inclusion, participation and achievement of children and young people; this may include meeting with children and young people to elicit their views, observations, and/or assessment activities, to complement the information already available.
All EPs working for Inclusion Somerset Educational Psychology are registered with the Health & Care Professionals Council as practitioner psychologists and are eligible for Chartered Psychologist status with the British Psychological Society.
Information regarding the Educational Psychology service, including criteria to access the service, can be found on the Support Services for Education website.
The below information is required in addition to the information already requested in the EHA.
Section 4:
We only require details of the child being referred but you may complete the whole section to provide a wider context
Section 5:
- We only require the names, address and contact details of parents / carers
Section 6:
- We only need to know professionals who are directly involved with the child you are referring. You may complete the whole section to provide a wider context
Section 9:
Use the drop-down menu to select “Educational Psychology Service”
Contact Details:
Email address: InclusionSENRequests@somerset.gov.uk
As from the 1st April 2020, the email address’s quoted within the drop-down menus of the “Early Help Assessment (EHA)Request Form” used for requests into the Inclusion SEND Advisory Services has changed. The new email address will be: InclusionSENRequests@somerset.gov.uk.
This means that the EHA will be received initially by Somerset Direct, who will check that the EHA is completed correctly and is accompanied by any Service specific Check Lists/Additional Information Forms/SEN Support Plans. Somerset Direct will return the EHA to the “Referrer” if the EHA is missing mandatory information or if not accompanied by any Service specific additional documentation. If the EHA is completed correctly and is accompanied with all relevant additional information, Somerset Direct will forward to the relevant Inclusion SEND Service for their consideration.
Both the EHA document (accessed via the professional Choices Website) and the Website itself has been up-dated. Please continue to access the EHA document via the website to ensure you are always using the up-to-date version.