Educational Psychology practice – managing the impact of Coronavirus

As we all adapt to the world around us, Innovate Psychology has been keeping a watchful eye out for any useful resources for Educational Psychologists.

With social distancing, self-isolation and reduced access to schools now part of our everyday lives, never has it been more important to share resources as we hear of them.

As an Educational Psychologist myself, I’ve found these tools to be particularly useful for signposting to teachers, parents and young people. 

Some have been shared by the local authority partners Innovate Psychology currently works with and others through organisations and professionals.

Here are five key resources educational psychologists (and other professionals) will find particularly helpful:

• Resources and Information for Parents, Carers, Schools and Supporting Professionals During the Coronavirus. Dr Dawn Bradley has pulled together a comprehensive supportive document referencing a range of resources and useful links. Access this useful collation of resources compiled from information shared by Educational and Child Psychologists throughout the UK.
• Considerations for psychologists working with children and young people using online video platforms. The guidance from the British Psychological Society (BPS) has been prepared to help educational psychologists think through and prepare for using video platforms as a means of communication. Please download guide here.
• The BPS and DECP have developed a teacher resilience paper that is now live. This document is aimed at teaching staff and is a positive resource for EPs to signpost to school leaders/teachers. The full document is available here.
• The mental health charity ‘Mind’ has developed Wellness Actions Plans (WAPs). These are an easy, practical way of helping individuals to support their own mental health at work and for managers in helping to support the mental health of their team members. Examples of these emotional well-being tools, which can be shared with schools and teachers working remotely, can be accessed by here.
• Bracknell Forest EPS have developed a ‘Coronavirus and Bereavement’ document to support their school and parent community. It signposts several invaluable resources and supportive organisations. This document was developed to support children and young people who lose a loved one or someone they know to coronavirus (COVID-19). It offers support to schools and other settings as wells as parents or carers on how best to support children and young people who experience loss. The full document is available here.

As a profession we acknowledge that it’s an incredibly unsettling time and frequently there will be more questions than answers, but hopefully the resources collated here will be useful in your practice.

We are of course, always keen to hear of any other resources you know of and so please reach out to us if you have anything you wish to share. We of course, promise to pass on anything we find useful!