Meet the Educational Psychologists

Dr Robert Beadel, CPsychol, AFBPsSDirector and Consultant Educational Psychologist

Rob is a Consultant Educational Psychologist and HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist. He has 14 years experience of working as an Educational Psychologist and Senior Educational Psychologist at Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Local Authorities. Before training as a psychologist, Rob was a deputy headteacher at school for children with emotional, behaviour and social difficulties.

Rob is a member of the British Psychological Society including the ‘Division of Educational and Child Psychology’ and the ‘Special interest Group in Coaching Psychology.’

Rob is a Founder of Psychology4Learning, and is able to provide professional support to P4L Educational Psychologists.

Dr Paula Williams, MSc., PGCE., BA (Hons)Director and Consultant Educational Psychologist

Paula has 27 years’ experience and has worked in a number of Local Authorities, building up a wealth of knowledge and experience. She has held specialist posts within the Looked After Service (Coventry); Rowan’s Children’s Centre (Milton Keynes); been a Nurture Group Trainer; Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TAMHS) Facilitator and joint lead trainer in Bucks, rolling out the Children and Families Act (2014) reforms.

She is keen to make psychology accessible to a wide audience, confident that lives can be improved through the application of evidenced based practices. Her particular interests are in Early Years and Mental Health issues. Paula is also trained in: Solution based therapy, Detraumatisation and fast phobia treatment (Human Givens), The Incredible Years (Webster-Stratton) Parenting programme, The Nurture Programme – Family Links Parenting programme. In Milton Keyens she was known as the sleep lady after successfully helping many parents to achieve a better night’s sleep.

Paula is a Founder of Psychology4Learning, and is able to provide professional support to P4L Educational Psychologists.

Claire Olliffe, BA (Hons), DipMBusiness Director

Claire manages the sales, marketing, finance and customer service elements of Psychology4Learning. She deals with customer queries and coordinates work with the Educational Pyschologists.

Claire has 10 years experience of working in the public sector, with roles in both the NHS and Local Authorities, managing the business side of clinical services.

Before working in the Public sector, Claire worked in international technology companies, developing and managing strategic marketing programmes.

Sharon Evans, BA (Hons), PGCE, MSc Ed PsychAssociate Educational Psychologist

Sharon has worked as an Educational Psychologist in Local Authorities for many years. She has an excellent reputation with our schools, meaning her services are always in demand.

Dr Sangeeta Silva, BA (Hons), PGCE, MScAssociate Educational Psychologist

Sangeeta has more than fourteen years experience working for several local educational authorities, the last eight years working on yearly or shorter term contracts employed by schools and local authorities as an independent consultant educational psychologist. Sangeeta is an Associate Educational Psychologist with P4L.

She completed a doctorate in Educational Psychology (April 2010) and her thesis area focused on strengthening parental contributions to school readiness and early childhood learning. Sangeeta originally trained as a primary school teacher and has specialised experience with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2).

Dr Carolyn Beecham, BSc, QTS, MSc, DEdPsyAssociate Educational Psychologist

Carolyn initially worked as a secondary school teacher in Hertfordshire, before completing a MSc in Educational psychology in 2005, followed by a Doctorate in 2012. Following the MSc in Educational Psychology, Carolyn worked as a Local Authority Educational Psychologist for 11 years.

Rachel EastwoodAssociate Educational Psychologist

Rachel has worked as an educational psychologist for over 20 years, with her most recent post being Principal Educational Psychologist for a local authority. She is passionate about psychology, social inclusion, removing barriers to achievement, and empowering others to make change. She has previously specialised in Autism and social, emotional and mental health needs and is a registered Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) trainer.

Jo WardAssociate Educational Psychologist

Jo has over 20 years’ experience working in senior and maingrade Educational Psychologist roles across several different local authorities. Jo’s specialist roles and interests have included: supporting nurture provisions in schools; focusing on relational approaches to foster positive well being in schools; helping schools with bereavement and critical incidents and helping early years settings to understand and support children with additional needs.

Dr Lauren FreemantleAssociate Educational Psychologist

Dr Lauren Freemantle is a Chartered Educational Psychologist, having studied at the University of Nottingham.

Dr Clare OtterAssociate Educational Psychologist

Clare is an experienced Educational Psychologist (EP) who qualified in 2010 after completing the professional training doctorate at the University of Nottingham. Clare has 15 years’ experience of working as a Senior, Maingrade, Trainee and Assistant EP within local authorities in the East of England and East Midlands regions. She enjoys working with children and young people across the age range and with a variety of needs, but has a particular interest in promoting social and emotional wellbeing in schools. Clare’s doctoral research focused on the impact of small group interventions on children’s social and emotional development, and she later went on to become involved with local authority project work around Targeted Mental Health in Schools and Wellbeing for Education Return. Clare has also worked as a primary school teacher and play worker.

Monica Gehrke BSc (Hons), MSc (Psych), PGDip, MSc Ed PsychAssociate Educational Psychologist

Monica has worked as an Educational Psychologist within Local Authority Educational Psychology Services for the past 13 years both in Edinburgh City and Warwickshire County.
Having a wide range of experience within the education sector including secondary school teaching and work in specialist and mainstream schools supporting children with various needs from early years to post 16 has led to an interest in many areas and approaches to supporting children, and the systems around them, to develop and evolve.
Monica gained her Masters in Educational Psychology in 2009 from the University of Strathclyde and became a Chartered Educational Psychologist in 2011.

Dr Deborah King BSc, MEdPsy, DEdPsyEducational Psychologist

Deb has over 20 years’ experience working as an Educational Psychologist in Local Authority schools and Academies. Her interests are children’s confidence and learning, especially in maths. After teaching she did a Masters in Educational Psychology at Exeter, and then a doctorate in Educational Psychology at UCL.

Dr Joy BoughtonEducational Psychologist

Joy has over 13 years’ experience working as an Educational Psychologist in Local Authority schools and Academies. This included a specialist role with Children Looked After (CLA). Areas of interest include Trauma Informed Practice and Attachment Aware classrooms. Before becoming an Educational Psychologist Joy was an Early Years teacher. Joy is an experienced, confident and highly skilled EP.

Dr Jess ChiappellaEducational Psychologist

Jess is an experienced Educational Psychologist, who also supervises trainee Educational Psychologists and is an academic and professional tutor on an educational psychology doctoral programme. Jess has an interest in supporting schools in developing relational approaches, such as through Nurture Group training (and has completed research in this area) and staff supervision. She also has an interest in supporting schools to meet the needs of neurodiverse children and young people. Jess is a Chartered Educational Psychologist and is registered with the HCPC and a member of the BPS.

Dr Chelsea Levinson-ObankEducational Psychologist

Chelsea began her psychology career in 2016 as an assistant psychologist. She qualified as an Educational Psychologist from the University of Birmingham in 2021. Her thesis topic explored primary school teachers’ professional life narratives, with a particular focus on teacher wellbeing. Prior to her psychology career she had a supporting residential role with young people with complex needs.