The Mission? Make The Power of Psychology Accessible To Everyone and Leave No Child's Needs Unmet.

As a clinical psychologist, I've had the pleasure and responsibility to traverse the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, stepping into the diverse worlds of hundreds of schools since qualifying in 1999. Each visit, from the quaint, age-old institutions nestled in Cotswold villages to the modern architectural marvels in North London, presented a unique challenge but also a glaring constant - the quest for understanding and supporting the mental health and developmental needs of children and young people.

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Identifying the Need:

One of the best things about going into schools is having the challenge of the unexpected. It usually comes with the preamble, "I know you are here about X but I wondered whilst you were here could I pick your brains about Y".

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The second part of the preamble is, "We’ve tried getting them help but they didn’t meet the threshold, we’ve tried CAMHS but they said no".

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Along with colleagues in health, education, and social care, we decided to build a tool that could fill that gap.  It began whilst working with the highly experienced and skilled educational psychology team in Jersey, led by Carol Milnes.  It was later expanded and influenced in response to a need to gather information from Arabic speaking parents in Kuwait.  Later colleagues from across disciplines made their own unique contribution.

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"We've tried getting them help, but they didn't meet the threshold, we've tried CAHMS but they said no."

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Spencer, the solution:

Spencer as a solution is designed to mimic the "X and Y" conversations, with great care being taken to tailor the algorithm so that it would match up with consultations we had with teachers and parents. In short, Spencer was built not just to identify the problem, but what to do about it as well through its recommendations.

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In particular, we wanted to design a solution that would encourage teachers and other professionals to move away from "finding the right label" to believing that they could use their expertise and experience to problem solve.  We wanted people to tell stories about children, including what was going well and what was difficult.  Using psychological theory and practice, we built a system that in a very small way attempted to build a ‘psychological formulation’ of the child.  

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As part of that, we knew that it was imperative to not only give educators the tools they need to bridge the oft-perceived skill gap, but also to create a system that lightens rather than burdens a busy teachers' work day.

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Spencer was built not just to identify the problem, but what to do about it as well, by giving recommendations.  It was built as a developmental tool, and for the preschoolers was modelled around the early years curriculum.

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The expertise behind Spencer:

With the generous help and perspectives of the colleagues and friends below, we developed Spencer to fill the skills gap and bring the power of formulation psychology to the fingertips of every teacher and parent.

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• Carol Milnes, Educational Psychologist
• Mary Cunningham, Occupational Therapist
• Dr Joanne Harrison, Clinical Psychologist
• Dr Stefan Peart, Clinical Psychologist
• Jo Forrest, Educational Psychologist
• Dr Judy Eaton
• Eleanor Walters, Education Consultant
• Seda Mansour, Education Consultant
• Sheena Wilson, Occupational Therapist
• Deborah Coleman, SENDCo
• Shauna Walsh, Speech and Language Therapist
• Dr Anna Cartwright, Clinical Psychologist

In addition to this, Spencer Education has teamed up with Learning 3D to bring this product to market ready for use in schools with the help of:

• Chris McShane, former Secondary Head Teacher and L3D CEO
• Clare Dickinson, former Primary Lead and L3D COO
• Fergus McShane, current Computer Science Teacher and L3D CTO
• Greg James, former SENDCo and current L3D Senior Learning Manager

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The Science Behind Spencer - It's about more than just "getting the right label", it's about finding the right formulation:

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The challenge for all of us is to change the thresholds we set for ourselves away from ‘Labels’ to being one of ‘Need’.

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Often behaviours are observed and focused on. Let's take a student who can’t concentrate. The temptation is often to jump to a label, perhaps ‘ADHD’. Whereas understanding that the child has major sleeping difficulties, or is chronically constipated, [...] changes how the child's "lack of concentration" is viewed.

Psychologists prefer to call this approach ‘formulation’ as opposed to "diagnosis". A process whereby we look at the whole child in the context of their development and the environment. Using the background of psychological theory, we construct a path of understanding, from which we can then set about plotting an intervention in partnership with the child, parent and teacher. We can test out whether our treatment has an impact and then revisit (reformulate) as we refine our understanding or set new challenges. It is a process that we are passionate about and want to bring into education as much as we have ‘labels’.

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We know innately that educators are not naturally ‘labellers’ and would probably be more at home with formulation. The challenge for all of us is to change the thresholds we set for ourselves away from ‘Labels’ to being one of ‘Need’. For example, a child with a non-verbal learning difficulty (NVLD) who is experiencing panic in loud and unstructured parts of the school day, fares far worse that the student with a diagnosis of ASC who is thriving but is ‘in the system’ because they have the diagnosis. The ‘panic’ is the issue and the target for help, not the ASC or the NVLD.”

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Once we have made the leap from "label" to "need", we empower ourselves to start planning to meet those needs, in other words, to make interventions. That is the process that Spencer is designed to support, and that is the process through which we can make the benefits of psychology accessible to everyone.

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My own profession of clinical psychology is as much to blame as anyone else for its lack of accessibility. Psychologists aren’t really into ‘diagnoses’ but it is hard to get away from the reality that we often end up ‘labelling’ as much as our mental health colleagues.

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However, we appear to have contributed to a culture whereby getting the ‘right label’ has become almost the norm. Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or Conduct Disorder (CD) to name but a few. It is possible that this has happened because there is a limited financial pot for meeting need and the thresholds for accessing treatment are becoming ever more precious.

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‍It is our hope and intention to contribute towards finding ways to make psychology available to all children in a way that is accessible, affordable, timely and well-informed.  Spencer is one of a growing number of digital tools that harness the benefits of modern technology in order to promote mental health and well-being.  We are still growing and learning with each and every development of the platform and we will listen, respond and progress with your support and involvement.

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Dr Bryn Williams,

Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Lead Creator of Spencer 3D