Life Chance Care – using our established expertise to provide appropriate and timely approaches to support children and young people who are experiencing difficulties in an educational setting.
Who can use this service?
Our service is for families and schools who have a child or young person (aged 5 – 25) who is struggling in education. This could be because of social, emotional and mental health needs and/or unaddressed learning needs or special educational needs (SEND).
What our service provides
Our service provides families and schools with an assessment, a formulation, and a written report. We do not provide a diagnosis or Educational Psychology services.
The benefits of our service
Increased pressures on the NHS and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) can mean long waiting times for assessments and support. In the meantime, young people continue to struggle in school because of unmet needs.
We will provide a detailed assessment that includes a formulation of the young person’s difficulties in their context, which acknowledges their strengths and provides specific solution-focused recommendations to identify strategies which can be implemented at home and in school.
Timings and duration
Each young person is individual and therefore each piece of work is variable in duration. All our work is conducted online and will be scheduled at mutually convenient times. Our assessments can usually be arranged within 1-4 weeks of an initial enquiry.
“We feel this has helped us bypass much unnecessary upset and frustration – by having this report, we can stop trying to convince everyone, it is a welcome relief.
I cannot think of how to improve this invaluable experience… We talked to competent, kind and understanding professionals, who then produced a report to make our daughter’s life, and ours, a little easier. We feel we are on the same page now with the right people who are are open to feedback, comments and anything else that would help.”
Mrs M, parent of assessed child.
Our Services
Step 1 – Assessment & Consultation process (prices start from £2,000)
Referral – Parents/carers will be asked to complete an information gathering referral form. A member of the team will then contact them to discuss next steps.
Assessment part A – Assessment interviews will be scheduled with the young person and their parents/carers.
Assessment part B – Assessment interviews will then be scheduled with the key person in school and with other professionals, as appropriate to the situation.
Additional information gathering – If appropriate, additional information will be requested from services who have previously worked with the young person.
Report – A report will be produced, detailing the assessment, and providing specific recommendations.
Feedback – An initial feedback meeting will be scheduled with parent/carers to share the contents of the report, including the recommendations, and to discuss next steps, including recommendations for feeding back to the educational setting.
Step 2 – Support, Implementation & Guidance process (at an hourly rate of £150)
Parents/Carers then have the opportunity to link with our SEN Case worker and team of multi disciplinary experts, who can help embed the recommendations appropriately within the young person’s educational setting and then monitor progress as necessary.
Next steps
For more information, please call Tel: 01626-244086 or email: [email protected]
To access our service, please complete and return our referral form
Our assessment team:
Dr Helen Bellfield – Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Dr Helen Bellfield has over 27 years’ experience of the practice of Clinical Psychology within the UK National Health Service. She gained he Doctorate in Community & Clinical Psychology at the University of Exeter in 1996 and was appointed Consultant in 2002. Dr Bellfield has extensive experience of working with individuals, families and groups in community, educational and inpatient settings.
Clare Hepworth-Wain – SfIT SEN Case Worker
Clare has worked in education for over twenty years in both mainstream and special schools. She is an experienced school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) and has also worked in school senior leadership teams. Clare enjoys working with young people, their parents, carers and educational settings to reach child centred, solution-focused outcomes.
