by Dr Anna Hutchinson, clinical psychologist
If your child or young person has a mental health difficulty or is neurodivergent (or both), parents know only too well how hard it is to get the right help. Many have had the appalling experience of their child being rejected by CAMHS because they’re not “actively suicidal.” While there are many different therapies available, from text or online talking services to counsellors to highly qualified psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, how do you know what will work best for your young person?
Our post today is from Dr Anna Hutchinson, a hugely experienced mental health professional, who has kindly written for us to explain more about her field of clinical psychology and what it entails. Dr Hutchinson has worked in clinical psychology services for 25 years, both across the NHS and in private practice. She specialises in adolescent mental and physical health, including patients with physical pain syndromes such as Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
How to Choose a Clinical Psychologist for Your Child with SEND: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers by Dr Anna Hutchinson
When you love and parent a child with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), you become an expert in so many things—their fears and needs, education systems, how you and others respond to them, support plans—but when emotional or behavioural challenges arise, even the most dedicated and informed parents can feel unsure about where to turn for help.
If your child is anxious, angry, socially withdrawn, or struggling in ways that leave them feeling complicated or misunderstood, a clinical psychologist might be able to help. But what do clinical psychologists actually do? How are they different from other professionals? And how do you find the right one for your child and family? This guide will walk you through it all—what clinical psychology is and is not, how it can help, what to look for, and the alternative options available.
Why Clinical Psychology?
Clinical psychologists are highly trained health professionals—usually with doctoral-level qualifications—who specialise in understanding emotional wellbeing, behaviour, and development across the lifespan. What makes them especially valuable for families of SEND children is their ability to step back and ask:
“What is really going on here?”
They bring together psychological theory, lived experience, and a deep understanding of neurodiversity to create a personalised ‘formulation’ or understanding of your child—not just what they do, but why, and this guides what might help them. Their focus is not on “fixing” your child, but on helping them to develop their potential and thrive in a world that can misunderstand them.
Clinical psychologists can help when your child is:
- Showing signs of anxiety, low mood, or emotional overwhelm
- Struggling with behaviour or emotional regulation
- ‘Masking’ or melting down at school or home
- Dealing with trauma, grief, or big life changes
- Needing more assessment of their well-being or abilities
- Falling between the cracks of services
- At risk of being pathologised for traits linked to neurodiversity
What Therapeutic Models Might They Use?
Clinical psychologists don’t offer a one-size-fits-all treatment. Instead, they draw from a range of therapeutic models, depending on your child and family’s needs, developmental stage, and communication style. Some of the most common include:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): A structured, evidence-based approach that helps children and parents understand how thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are linked. Often used for anxiety and low mood, it can be adapted for neurodiverse children with the right support.
- Narrative Therapy: Helps children (and families) tell or rewrite their own stories in empowering and helpful ways. Useful when your child has internalised stigma or blame, often powerful in SEND contexts.
- Systemic or Family Therapy: Focuses on patterns within family relationships and how change happens within the whole system. This approach can support parents and siblings as well as the child with SEND.
- Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT): Especially helpful when shame or self-criticism is present. This model promotes emotional safety and self-kindness, particularly for children and parents who’ve been misunderstood or excluded.
- Attachment-Based Approaches: These look at early relational experiences and how they influence emotions and behaviour. It is especially helpful for children who have experienced trauma, rejection, or disrupted attachments.
- Trauma-Informed or EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing): For children who have experienced acute, painful or complex trauma. EMDR is one of the few therapies recommended for post-traumatic stress in children.
A good clinical psychologist will adapt their approach to fit your child or young person—not the other way around. They may use play, drawing, movement, stories, or metaphor to help your child feel safe and engage.
Cognitive and Diagnostic Assessments
As well as therapy, many clinical psychologists also offer formal assessments. These can be incredibly helpful for understanding your child’s unique profile and securing the right support in education or healthcare settings. Assessments may include:
- Cognitive Assessments: These explore abilities like memory, attention, processing speed, executive functioning, and general cognitive ability (IQ). They can help identify strengths and needs, and are sometimes used in EHCP or tribunal processes.
- Neurodevelopmental Assessments: Including assessments for autism, ADHD, or other neurodivergent presentations. These are best done with clinicians experienced in neurodiversity who understand how presentations differ by sex, age, and cultural background.
- Emotional or Behavioural Assessments: These look at patterns of emotional regulation, anxiety, attachment style, or trauma responses. They might lead to a diagnosis, if desired and needed, which can itself help inform the best therapeutic support or approach from services.
- Formulation: Unlike a diagnosis, a formulation is a shared story about how your child’s difficulties developed, what maintains them, and how they can be addressed. It integrates information from multiple sources and is often more helpful for complex presentations. This is a main way that Clinical Psychologists work can differ from other professionals.
Clinical psychologists will often use standardised tools and parent/teacher questionnaires alongside interviews and observation. A good assessment should leave you with more clarity, helping everyone to feel more empowered and less confused.
Alternatives to Clinical Psychology
While clinical psychologists offer a broad and integrative perspective, other professionals may also be appropriate depending on your child’s specific needs. These include:
- Educational Psychologists (EPs): Focused on learning and behaviour in school contexts. Vital for EHCPs and can offer classroom strategies, but often have limited capacity for therapeutic work.
- Psychiatrists: Medical doctors who can diagnose and prescribe medication. Especially relevant when medication for ADHD, OCD, depression, etc., is being considered.
- Speech and Language Therapists (SALTs): Essential for children with communication differences, including understanding emotions and social interaction.
- Occupational Therapists (OTs): Help with sensory processing, motor skills, and daily functioning. Invaluable for children who struggle with sensory overload, routines, or transitions.
- Counsellors or Child Psychotherapists: Provide emotional support and therapy but vary widely in training and approach. Always check their experience with SEND.
Often, the most effective support comes from a multi-disciplinary approach, where professionals work together around your child’s unique situation.
How to Choose the Right Clinical Psychologist
When looking for a clinical psychologist, keep these points in mind:
SEND-Specific Experience: Do they work with children like yours? Are they familiar with autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, trauma, or sensory processing?
Values and Language: Are they affirming of your child and family? Do they see behaviour as communication? Are they respectful of difference rather than pathologising it?
Scope of Work: Do they offer assessment, therapy, parent consultation—or all three? Some psychologists specialise in certain areas (e.g., trauma, autism assessments).
Location and Format: Do they work face-to-face, online, in clinics, or in schools? Are they accessible to your family’s routines and needs?
Costs and Waitlists: NHS provision can be excellent but slow. Independent psychologists vary in price, so ask for clarity about fees, timelines, and report use (e.g., for EHCPs or tribunals).
‘Fit’: This is often the most important factor. A good psychologist will not just “treat” your child but build a trusting, respectful relationship with them—and with you. This is something you will likely feel in your ‘gut.’ They should leave you feeling reassured that they both know what they are doing and have your child’s and family’s best interests at heart.
Many clinical psychologists will be happy to speak with you before you book an expensive assessment, and if this initial contact doesn’t feel right don’t feel embarrassed about shopping around. One of the biggest indicators of therapeutic success is the relationship quality between a psychologist and their client.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a clinical psychologist can feel daunting, especially when you’re already juggling so much. But with the right person, clinical psychology can offer your child not just help, but understanding. A good psychologist will see your unique child behind the noise and labels, help others see your child more clearly, and give you space to feel supported too.
Whatever path you take, remember this: you know your child best. The right professional will listen to you, learn from you, and walk alongside your family, sharing their expertise and trying to help with both respect and care.
For more information about Clinical Psychology see:
- ‘What is a clinical psychologist?’ – The British Psychological Society
- ‘Clinical Psychologists: Who are we and what do we do?’ The Association of Clinical Psychologists UK
About Dr Anna Hutchinson
Dr Anna Hutchinson is a clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience. She serves as the Clinical Director at The Integrated Psychology Clinic and specialises in adolescent mental health and physical health. She has an MSc in cognitive neuropsychology and a clinical doctorate in psychology, both from the University of London. She previously held senior positions at several internationally renowned London hospitals, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, King’s College Hospital, and The Tavistock Centre. Anna is on the professional Issues Panel for the Association of Clinical Psychologists (ACP). She was recently employed by Great Ormond Street Hospital and worked with The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to develop induction training for the new National Children & Young People’s Gender Dysphoria Services.
Anna specialises in adolescent mental health and physical health and contributes to IPC’s Child and Adolescent, Adult Mental Health, Gender and Physical Health clinics. She provides developmentally informed interventions to people of all ages experiencing challenges such as anxiety, stress, complex trauma, identity issues and depression. Her work ranges from supporting families and adolescents to working with adults in middle age or later life.
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Also read:
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- Free course: Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) in children with mental health difficulties
- Shameful state of continence services leaves disabled children “robbed of fundamentally important experiences”
- Cut neurodiversity assessment waiting lists in one easy step: Create more barriers to NHS referrals
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- Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: What doctors and schools need to know
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- Children’s Mental Health: Our experience of CAMHS nearly broke us
- Eliza’s searingly-honest film about teenage mental health and how the right help is hard to find
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms
- How health and family support systems are failing children starting school
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals
- When things go right: Shining a light on SEND Practitioners making a positive impact [Giveaway!]
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people
- Unison voices major concerns over SEND reform health plans for sick and disabled children out of school in the EOTAS consultation
- Top Tips for the EOTAS & EHCP consultation: Protect your child’s rights to statutory SEND support
- Navigating constraints: Why a former PCF chair thinks the current model is missing the mark for families
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them”
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She is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms - September 9, 2026
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN - August 4, 2026
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them” - July 30, 2026
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