Before completing the Educational Psychology doctorate program, Rhonda worked for over 15 years with children and young people across primary, secondary and further education sectors within the Greater Manchester area. In her role, as a teacher of A-level Psychology and pastoral tutor, Rhonda supported young people to attain their academic goals and well-being.  Rhonda also enjoyed her time working with early years and primary school children, encompassing a range of special needs. Her experiences involved developing and delivering social and emotional literacy programs and motor skills and numeracy and literacy interventions. This work led Rhonda to become further inspired to work collaboratively with children, school staff and families to promote all children’s health and well-being, as well as teamwork skills and creative and physical and sports abilities.

Rhonda as part of her educational psychology training has appreciated the opportunities to work with several EP services across the North West. These placement experiences have enriched the range of psychological approaches and therapeutic skills and techniques that Rhonda can offer  to children and young people from Early Years to Post-16,  especially students with special educational needs and the adults who support them.

Rhonda is committed to supporting all children and young people in receiving the best possible education experience. Her doctoral thesis has focused on systemic educational approaches to supporting children and young people with Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA) as related to anxiety. She enjoyed partnering with Local Authority schools and services to conduct a participatory action research project. This project was successful in producing an Early Identification of Needs tool (EINT) that has been implemented across the local area.