Durham SEND and Inclusion Services

Educational Psychology Service

The Educational Psychology Service is part of the council’s SEND Support and Inclusion provision. While most of work we do is initiated by school-based colleagues in consultation with parents/carers, we also respond where possible to direct approaches by both young people and their parents/carers.

The following teams are part of our Educational Psychology Service:

• Educational Psychology
• The Emotional Wellbeing and Effective Learning Service (EWEL)
• Communication and Interaction Team, including speech and language support and the Autism and Social Communication team
• Cognition and Learning Team, including the movement and sensory motor team
• The Portage Team
• Sensory Support Service

All of our teams can support the wellbeing and achievement of young people. Some teams have mental health and resilience as their main focus, but experience tells us that often the factors that lead to young people struggling are varied. We will always endeavour to ensure the right people are involved in helping to meet the needs of your child, and that we are working effectively with key partners.

The role of our teams is to:

• improve the wellbeing, achievement and resilience of young people who are struggling
• reduce the risk of exclusion and to promote learning environments and approaches that support young people to thrive and achieve their potential
• develop the capacity of schools to effectively meet the needs of young people who are struggling
• support the council in fulfilling its statutory and core SEND functions

The team do this through:

• working directly with children and young people to understand their needs and provide support
• working closely with those who know them best- parents/carers and key staff in schools
• providing training programmes for school-based staff in relation to key areas of need
• supporting development work with schools drawing on best practice

If you feel that any of our teams can support you, please contact your child’s school and discuss this. All schools have a Link Educational Psychologist and Link SEND Partner and can advise you on how to take this forward.

During the Covid 19 lockdown many young people are not in school, and in this context we would encourage support requests to come directly to the service using the email contact below where it is not possible to do this through the usual school arrangements.

Email: epsdurham@durham.gov.uk

Tel: 03000 263333

If you would like independent information and advice, please visit the Durham SEND Information Advice and Support Service website (http://www.durhamsendiass.info/) for how to do this.