Child Psychology
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We have a number of psychologists who specialise in working with children and adolescents aged 0-18 years.
Click on the names on the left hand side to access psychologist profiles within this specialism.
Dr Maxine Tostevin
Dr Amy Bailey
Dr Sue Candy
Dr Emmanuelle Davison
Dr Susan Drake
Dr Madeleine Dunham
Dr Ian Frampton
Dr Alison Hodgetts
Ms Jane Hughes
Dr Annie Mitchell
Dr Jennifer Murray-Milkins
Dr Lucie Robinson
Dr Helen Rowe
Ms Shira Rüb
Dr Alison Stephens
Mrs Arabella Whitehead
Dr Alison Williams
Click on a name on the left to view their profile.
Dr Maxine Tostevin
Dr Maxine Tostevin is our Clinical Director for Child and Parenting Services. Maxine provides developmental and psychological assessments of children (0-18), parenting assessments, attachment assessment, therapeutic work, and consultation to children’s services and families. Expert witness assessments and reports for courts are also provided. Maxine has an expertise in working with children who have experienced abuse and has worked within Children in Care services for the last 6 years. Maxine has recently joined Psychology Associates, having spent 11 years working clinically within NHS and Social Care Child and Family Services.
Dr Amy Bailey
Dr Amy Bailey provides developmental and psychological assessments of children (0-18), parenting assessments, attachment assessment, therapeutic work, consultation to children’s services and families. Amy has been providing expert witness assessments and reports for Court since January 2007. Amy has spent five years working with looked after children in a joint health and social services project prior to working solely for this practice since January 2010. She has a particular interest and expertise in working with children with attachment difficulties.
Dr Sue Candy
Dr Sue Candy is the founder and Managing Director of Psychology Associates. Sue provides expert witness testimony to the Courts. She specialises in assessments of parenting capacity and attachment. She previously worked for many years in the National Health Service providing therapy, assessment and research in obstetrics and gynaecology, learning disability, mental health and parenting. Sue has extensive experience of providing expert psychological evidence to the Courts. She will accept referrals in childcare proceedings, fitness to plead or capacity assessments and complex personal injury cases. She provides training to other professionals in Court report writing and skills. She has an interest in training Clinical Psychologists and was formerly Admissions and Examinations Tutor at Plymouth University on the South West Clinical Psychology Training Scheme. She offers supervision to other psychologists working within Psychology Associates.
Dr Emmanuelle Davison
Dr Emmanuelle Davison currently works part-time as a senior Clinical Psychologist at Exeter child development centre. This centre specialises in the assessment of infants and pre-school age children with a wide range of disabilities. Part of her role is to carry out autism assessment, cognitive and developmental assessment and to offer therapeutic intervention to children with feeding and sleeping difficulties. She provides both training and supervision to other professionals and, together with a colleague, has also set up an infant mental health service. This service offers screening, psycho-education, assessment and therapy to young disabled children and their parents who have attachment difficulties. Dr Davison has experience in the assessment of autism, attachment difficulties and trauma in young children. She has been trained in the use of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in adults and children, and Watch Wait and Wonder parent/child psychotherapy. She has worked for Psychology Associates on a part-time basis where her work has so far been to offer therapy to young children and adolescents.
Dr Susan Drake
Dr Susan Drake is a Consultant Clinical Child Psychologist who has been working for the NHS specialising in traumatised and looked after children for the last 12 years. Sue provides developmental and psychological assessments of children (0-18), parenting assessments, attachment assessment, therapeutic work, and consultation to children’s services and families. Expert witness assessments and reports for Courts are also provided. Sue’s work in the NHS has been in the Specialist Child Abuse Team providing therapy, assessments for abused children and professional training and consultations. For the last 6 years she has managed the CAMHS Children in Care team providing assessments, therapy, training and consultations.
Dr Madeleine Dunham
Madeleine Dunham has 25 years experience in the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and their families in the NHS and is now in full time independent practice. She provides reports for the Courts in public and private childcare disputes and personal injury, specialising in assessment of parents attributes and parenting abilities, children’s needs, attachment issues, domestic abuse, substance misuse, learning difficulties and mental health issues. She has been providing reports to the Courts for over 20 years and has given evidence in Court on numerous occasions. She also maintains a family therapeutic practice and works with collaborative lawyers in relation to divorce and contact.
Dr Ian Frampton
Ian Frampton is a Consultant in Paediatric Neurosychology based in Cornwall UK, where his chief clinical interest concerns the development of children’s brains. He is a Senior Clinical Scientist at the Centre for Clinical Neuropsychology Research, University of Exeter, Honorary Consultant Neuropsychologist at Great Ormond St. Hospital for Children NHS Trust and visiting Research Consultant at Oslo University Hospital, Norway. His main research interests concerns the potential neurobiological basis of early onset anorexia nervosa and the neuropsychological consequences of childhood brain injury. Ian is an Associate Editor of the journal Child and Adolescent Mental Health and has served as a Neuropsychology Advisor at the UK Department of Health. He is a Full Practitioner Member of the Division of Neuropsychology of the British Psychological Society and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Dr Alison Hodgetts
Dr Alison Hodgetts provides psychological and developmental assessments of children (0 - 18), attachment assessments and parenting assessments. Assessments and reports have been provided for Court. She has four years experience of working clinically within NHS settings and is currently employed in local NHS services for children with developmental disorders and disabilities.
Ms Jane Hughes
Ms Jane Hughes is a Child Clinical Psychologist and has been working with children and families for over twenty years. She has worked in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services offering individual, family and group therapy to children and adolescents in Exeter, London and for the past ten years in Plymouth. In the past her expertise has been working with children and adolescents who have experienced abuse, but more recently she has developed her expertise working with children and families where there has been a death in the family. She is currently working part time with a local bereavement charity for children, adolescents and their families as well as working as a self employed Clinical Psychologist with Psychology Associates. She offers psychological assessments for personal injury claims, developmental assessments, attachment assessments using Story Stem, individual and family therapy, and has recently completed the Part 1 training in EMDR, a treatment method particularly useful for trauma in children and adults. Her particular interests are systemic therapy, divorce and separation, bereavement, trauma, attachment and loss. She has four children of her own.
Dr Annie Mitchell
Annie Mitchell is a Clinical and Community Psychologist who has worked in clinical practice, research and training in the southwest for 30 years. She currently has two part time jobs. As Senior Lecturer and Clinical Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Plymouth she provides training in clinical supervision and professional issues, and is on the executive management group for Folk.us, a nationally funded research group which promotes lay involvement in health and social care research. As Clinical Health Psychologist at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital she provides psychological assessment and therapy for patients with complex physical illness, and staff support and training in the provision of psychological care. Annie initially trained as a Child Psychologist and previously worked as a Specialist Clinical Psychologist with children with disabilities. She offers training, consultancy, supervision and team-building for statutory and independent sector agencies, and has a particular interest in promoting service user and carer involvement in service development.
Dr Jennifer Murray-Milkins
Dr Jennifer Murray worked for several years prior to clinical training with young people with learning disabilities in transition to adult services, in forensic secure services (mental health medium secure service and maximum security personality disorder service) and as a research psychologist. She qualified as a Clinical Psychologist from the University of Bristol doctoral training course in 2009 and has since been working in a Tier 2 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Within her NHS role, Jenny provides specialist clinical assessment and intervention for the emotional and mental health needs of children and young people, including children with learning disabilities. She works individually with children and young people, as well as with families, carers, schools and other relevant professionals and agencies. Jenny has a special interest in learning and developmental difficulties and is involved in the assessment of these. She also provides group CBT supervision and consultation to other multi-disciplinary professionals. Jenny is based in Reading, Berkshire, but is able to travel beyond this base to parts of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and the London areas.
Dr Lucie Robinson
Lucie provides developmental and psychological assessments of children (0-18), parenting assessments, therapeutic work, consultation to children’s services and families. Expert witness assessments and reports for courts are also provided. Lucie has an expertise in working with children who are developmentally delayed and has worked within a Community Child Psychology Service for children with learning disabilities and their families for the past 5 years. Lucie has recently joined Psychology Associates, having spent 6 years working clinically in NHS and Social Care Child and Family Services, and 2 years working clinically for Action for Children.
Dr Helen Rowe
Helen can provide developmental and psychological assessments of children, therapeutic work with children or adults, and expert witness work. Helen has worked in children's services in the NHS since 2001, in both child physical health and child mental health services. She has special interests in developmental difficulties, children with learning disabilities and/or long term health problems, parenting, and infant mental health.
Ms Shira Rüb
Ms Shira Rüb provides expert witness assessments in relation to children and their parents in both public and private proceedings, including the assessment of attachment relationships, parenting ability in the context of the adult's attachment status, other issues arising from the impact of the parenting and family circumstances on the child, evidence of harm, and the potential for change. Shira has worked therapeutically in the NHS with children from 0-18, currently specialising in providing a service to families where children have been diagnosed with cancer or leukaemia. She has been providing independent assessment reports since 1999 and is experienced at giving evidence in Court.
Dr Alison Stephens
Alison has worked for ten years in the field of paediatric psychology in the NHS, working with children and young people with complex physical health problems, their families and healthcare teams. Through this work Ishe has developed a particular interest and skills in the areas of systemic and attachment theories, assessment and therapy. Alison is currently self employed, working in the areas of assessment, therapy, supervision and research. She has 8 years’ experience of Expert Witness work, providing written reports and verbal evidence, for psychological and attachment assessments for children; and personal injury for children and adults.
Mrs Arabella Whitehead
Mrs Arabella Whitehead provides developmental and psychological assessments of children (0-18), full psychological assessment of adults, predominantly parents, including learning disability, autism, assessments of parenting and attachment, mental health and associated difficulties such as drug and alcohol problems, therapeutic work and consultation to children and adult/family services; additionally, she will undertake personal injury assessments. Expert witness assessments and reports for Court are also provided. Arabella's clinical experience spans 23 years of working in the NHS and she has been working with Psychology Associates since 2007.
Dr Alison Williams
Dr. Alison Williams has worked within the NHS with children, young people and parents in community, inpatient and paediatric settings. She currently works in both the NHS, as joint Clinical Lead to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health service for children in the care of Plymouth Local Authority and also the private sector providing expert witness testimony to the Courts and therapy services. She has expertise in the assessment of attachment relationships and the assessment and treatment of complex trauma and is trained to deliver Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) to adults and children. She will accept referrals in childcare proceedings, assessments of attachment, parenting capacity and personal injury cases along with requests for the assessment and treatment of psychological difficulties in children and young people. She provides training and supervision to clinical psychologists and other professions in attachment and psychological issues related to being in Care and adoption. She is BUPA registered.

