Welcome to Bridges For Children C.I.C. Educational & Child Psychologists
"Education is all a matter of building bridges"
(Ralph Ellison)
About Us
about us
Bridges for Children Community Interest Company (CIC) is an independent non-profit organization that provides community-driven educational and child psychology services for children and young people with disabilities and social, emotional and learning needs in London and South East Asia. Our approach places an emphasis on building bridges between home and school cultures, by engaging with communities and families upfront and encouraging them to define the outcomes they want. To do this effectively means taking time to listen.
our services
COVID19
We are currently providing free 40 minute telephone consultation services to families, schools and organisations. We are developing a range of new services in response to COVID19. Please contact us to discuss. (11.05.20)
Educational Psychologists are applied psychologists with specialist, postgraduate training in child development, disability, child mental health and pedagogy. They apply psychological knowledge, research and theories to understand the process of teaching and learning - this helps others, such as parents, teachers and pre-school settings, to improve the educational outcomes for children, particularly those with additional needs including learning disabilities and social-emotional difficulties. In some countries (such as the USA) Educational Psychologists are called School Psychologists.
Community Psychology is a framework that goes beyond the individual and addresses social, health and educational inequallities at a systemic level, through collaboration with local community members, groups and organisations to bring about positive change.
At Bridges for Children CIC, we are developing a different approach to traditional Educational Psychology services by combining a community psychology approach with our training as educational psychologists. We use a strengths'-based approach to work with any individual or organisation who may be worried about a child's educational progress or psycho-social development - you may be a parent/carer, a family member, a community organisation, a pre-school centre, a school* or an employer who wishes to support your employees who are parents/carers. Together, we problem-solve collectively and identify a range of practical strategies and interventions for children and young people (aged 18 months - 25 years) to support their educational aspirations, emotional well-being and social inclusion.
*We support the delivery of equitable public sector services and do not provide services to schools in England if their requests can be effectively met by their Local Authority Educational Psychology Service. Please feel free to call us to discuss.
our approach
Bridges for Children CIC provides non-statutory services and early support to families and communities who may be concerned about an individual child or group of children in terms of their learning, or social and emotional development.
We welcome collaboration with the public sector and other organisations aimed at increasing early support and community access to psychological services and reducing educational inequity.
We firmly believe that all parents and carers want to help their child. We also believe that families, children, young people and local communities are best placed to know what they need. By working together, we know we can achieve better educational, well-being and employment outcomes for children and young people.
Our Organisation
Our team
Our CEO and founder is a qualified educational psychologist with over 25 years experience, including 15 years as a Psychological Service Manager with the public sector in London (UK) and the Ministry of Education, Republic of Singapore. She is a regular visiting lecturer with University College London (UCL) and the University of Southampton on their educational and clinical psychology postgraduate courses.
We currently have a small team of dedicated, highly skilled and experienced individuals who work with us as associates, research and programme development advisors, volunteers or non-executive directors. As an organisation, we value clinical supervision, reflective learning and continuing professional development to maintain a high quality service.
All our practitioner psychologists are registered in their country of practice where statutory regulation is applicable. Psychologists who are based at our London office are registered Practitioner Psychologists with the U.K. Health and Care Professions Council and Chartered Psychologists with the British Psychological Society.
We have a strong commitment to safeguarding practice and recruit with due diligence. All our psychologists from U.K. are police checked and hold enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates. Appropriate DBS checks are conducted on all volunteers and interns with their consent.
