Waite Psychology is a family-run educational psychology service, initially set up in 2018 by Dr. Jennifer Waite (Educational and Child Psychologist) and joined by her husband, Dr. Michael Waite (Educational and Child Psychologist), in 2020.
Director of Waite Psychology Ltd
Jen received her Doctorate in Child and Educational Psychology (DEdChPsy) from The University of Manchester and has delivered educational psychology services within the local authority and private sector for over 12 years. She set up Waite Psychology Ltd in 2018. Prior to completing her professional training, Jen qualified with a first-class honours degree in Psychology in Education from Lancaster University and worked as an Assistant Educational Psychologist for a local authority.
In her role as Managing Director, Jen takes the strategic lead on organising our Service Level Agreements with individual educational settings and across several Academy Trusts. She co-ordinates support throughout the team and works collaboratively with our Assistant EPs. Jen also takes the lead on our business and project development and works closely with Jane, Tasha and Elaine in the office.
As well as running our team, Jen maintains a diary of regular schools, providing a range of applied psychology services to educational settings across the North West. She is also the driving force behind our projects, which are forever evolving around the current needs in our schools.
Jen’s area of specialism is within social and emotional development and she is an Attachment Aware and Trauma Informed (AATI) specialist. It is from within the AATI role that Jen’s passion emanates in empowering whole school policy and practice, instilling skills and confidence in school staff by enabling them to support children and young people to grow within their emotional security in school and, therefore, accessing learning opportunities and, most importantly, continuing their education.
Director of Waite Psychology Ltd
Mike received his Doctorate in Child and Educational Psychology (DEdChPsy) from The University of Manchester in 2020 and soon after joined Jen, turning Waite Psychology into a family run service. Prior to completing his professional training, Mike completed a Masters in Psychology, qualifying with a Distinction, and worked as an Assistant Educational Psychologist and a Therapeutic Practitioner.
Mike supports many of our schools and Academy Trusts, providing a range of educational psychology support across all areas of need. He also takes a lead on supporting the District 13 Inclusion Hub and is part of the steering group for our ‘Roots to Wings’ Therapeutic Intervention.
Mike has a particular interest within the field of adolescent social, emotional and mental health. He is passionate about effecting positive changes for children and young people through applications of evidence-based interventions and consultation models of practice. Mike’s support is underpinned by his therapeutic skills and philosophies on child-centred practice which aim to ensure children and young people’s voices play a key role in defining their needs and in devising solutions to best to support them.
Cathy is a HCPC registered EP, who also works on the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology (DEdChPsy) Training Programme at the University of Manchester.
She specialises in working therapeutically with children and young people and works within alternative provisions across the North West. Other current research interests include social justice, consultation, parental alcohol misuse and the role of sport and exercise within mental health and wellbeing.
Hannah Cartmell is a HCPC registered EP, who worked as a Senior EP with a mental health specialism for a local authority until 2024. This involved leading on a project to support schools develop whole school approaches to mental health.
Hannah works as a tutor on the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology (DEdChPsy) Training Programme at the University of Manchester, where one of her responsibilities is Course Convenor for the Mental Health, Wellbeing and Therapeutic Practice Module.
Hannah also works as an independent EP across the North West. Her interests include Relational Approaches, The Right to Play, Social Justice, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Emotional Barriers to School Attendance (EBSA). Hannah is also a qualified CBT therapist.
Sarah completed her Doctoral Training in Educational and Child Psychology (DEdChPsy) in 2013. Since then, she has worked as an EP in several different local authorities. Sarah has enjoyed leading on the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) project, which has involved training, supervising and co-ordinating multiple cohorts of ELSAs.
Sarah has worked in a wide range of schools, early years and specialist settings, providing support at the individual and whole school level through consultation, assessment, therapeutic work and training.
Sarah is passionate about supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing and she also has strong interests in neurodiversity, therapeutic approaches and the use of positive psychology.
Genevieve received her Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology (DEdChPsy) from the University of Manchester in 2013 and worked as a local authority EP until 2024. Whilst working in a local authority, Genevieve held a lead role in early years as well as working with schools, virtual school and social care.
Genevieve is a passionate and hard-working psychologist who is now embracing work as an independent EP. Her interests are varied and include early years, attachment, prematurity, mental health and wellbeing and Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Natalie brings a wealth of experience of supporting children and young people with a wide range of special educational needs. She previously worked within the Cognition and Learning Team at a local authority, specialising in Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD). In this role, Natalie carried out assessments, delivered one-to-one interventions supporting children in areas such as literacy, maths, motor skills, speech and language and emotional wellbeing through therapeutic support. Natalie worked closely with schools and families to develop practical, personalised strategies to help children overcome barriers to learning.
Now working as an Assistant Educational Psychologist with Waite Psychology, Natalie provides assessments, advice and support to schools, families and learners. She takes a collaborative approach, using psychology to understand individual needs and provide advice which supports both academic progress and emotional wellbeing Natalie is also leading the Optima Reading Project – an evidence-based programme focused on strengthening literacy skills and building children’s confidence so they can thrive in their learning.
Beth is passionate about supporting children and young people to reach their full potential. She has several years of experience working with children and young people from ages three to 16 years old. After completing her Psychology Degree and MSc in Psychology of Child and Adolescent Development, she supported numerous primary school aged children with a wide range of needs on a 1:1 basis. Her experience also includes working in a nurture room setting, where she provided daily support to children with their learning, as well as with their social and emotional development.
As an Assistant Educational Psychologist, Beth works closely with schools, carrying out detailed observations, high-quality assessments and providing personalised advice and support to meet individual children and young people’s needs. By applying psychological theory into everyday practice, she helps children and young people overcome barriers to learning and thrive, both in their learning and personal development. Beth also takes a lead on our Nurturing Schools with Waite Psychology project, which includes various approaches to support children and young people’s social and emotional development. This is inclusive of supporting schools to write relational and regulation plans, coaching staff on approaches such as emotion coaching, and helping develop our own therapeutic interventions.
Katie brings over sixteen years of dedicated experience in education, having taught across a wide range of settings from early years to university level as a Specialist Teacher. Her background includes four years as a Senior SEND Mental Health Practitioner within an Early Intervention Mental Health and Trauma Service, where she provided vital support across diverse educational environments.
Now working as an Assistant Educational Psychologist, Katie conducts in-depth observations, delivers insightful assessments and offers tailored guidance to schools. She integrates psychological theory into everyday practice, helping children access education and flourish in their learning journeys. She is also going to take a lead on our Specialist Curriculums project, which aims to support mainstream schools run specialist units, resource units and sensory approaches for children and young people with Complex and Severe Learning Disabilities (CLD and SLD) and/or Autism.
Vic has worked in education for over 19 years, having been a Teacher, SENCo, SEND Officer for a local authority and a Qualified Play Therapist.
For three years, Vic worked for Waite Psychology Ltd as an Assistant Psychologist, working closely with Jen, whilst continuing her roles as a SEND Consultant and SENDCo. Due to her level of knowledge and expertise, Vic enabled us to develop our Specialist Teacher Service, for which she takes a lead role in delivering across our schools.
In addition to developing the role of Specialist Teacher for Waite Psychology Ltd, Vic continues to develop her expertise within specialist pedagogy, approaches and curriculums as she works part time at a Special School for SLD/PMLD. This has enabled her to focus her professional development within the areas of Significant Learning Difficulty/Profound and Multiple Learning Disability (SLD/PMLD), providing a significant impact on supporting many of our mainstream schools in setting up and running specialist units or resource classrooms, and implementing specialist curriculums.
With over 20 years of admin experience, Tasha joined Waite Psychology Ltd to support Jen and the team with administrative tasks. This includes helping with the day to day running of the office, taking a lead on communications and developing upcoming projects across the team.
Jane has recently joined the team following a 13 year career as a school bursar.
Jane has the pivotal role of running our office and finances. Within her role, Jane also supports the team to provide our HR compliance procedures and supports our schools in managing their service level agreements.
Elaine is Jen’s mum and another member of the Waite Psychology family team.
Elaine worked in various administrative roles and was a Personal Assistant to a Chief Executive within a local authority before she retired in 2015. Since the company was formed, she has supported the team in completing the essential role of proof-reading psychological reports, which ensures the quality and clarity of advice we provide.
