The Team

A bit about us.....

Dr Nikkita Osiadacz

Clinical Director and Clinical Psychologist

Registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

I am an enthusiastic and passionate Clinical Psychologist with a specific interest in supporting young people and their families to thrive and to be the best version of themselves, particularly young people with autism.

I provide autism and ADHD assessments and diagnosis for young people, support for autistic young people and their families, and mental health support for children and adolescents for challenges with anxiety, low mood, relationships and low self-esteem.

A person-centred approach is at the core of my work to suit the person’s needs. I also use other psychological approaches such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) adapted for young people, Narrative Therapy (NT) and systemic thinking throughout my practice.

I am a strong believer in young people being part of many systems such as family, friendship circle, and school amongst others, and therefore working with the system is paramount to ensuring the young person is supported and change is maintained.

Melissa Dean

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT).

I qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2007, following completion of the MSc in
Language Pathology at Newcastle University. I have worked in the area of Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD) assessment within a multidisciplinary team for most of my career and I am
qualified to administer the ADOS-2 assessment.

Over the years, I have worked in many different settings, including autism resource units,
special schools, mainstream schools and child development centres. I work collaboratively
with a range of different professionals and strongly believe in joint working in order to
achieve holistic goal setting for children and young people.

I am experienced in a range of different therapeutic approaches, including Hanen ‘More
than Words’ parent training, Makaton, Intensive Interaction, Attention Autism and
supporting children with Alternative and Augmentative Communication systems (both
paper based and devices). I also have a special interest in Selective Mutism and have
completed the advanced masterclass level training. I aim to empower families to know how
best to work with their child to enable them to reach their full communication potential.

Alongside private practice, I currently work for the NHS as a Specialist Speech and Language
Therapist in an early years autism assessment team.

Dr Sophie Thomas

Clinical Psychologist

Registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

I am a Clinical Psychologist with a specialist interest in working with children, young people and their
families. I am passionate about creatively engaging children throughout my work and adapting my
approach to meet people’s individual needs.

My approach to working with children and young people and their families/carers involves being
creative and adapting the evidence-base to fit the needs of the people I am working with. I involve
the people around the child or young person as much as possible during our work together as I think
that it is important to understand how the difficulties are being experienced by everyone and what
else is happening around the difficulties. Working alongside or with family members also supports
the continued practice and repetition of new skills and strategies, even after we have said goodbye.

The main models I use in my work are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion
Focused Therapy (CFT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) plus Systemic and Attachment
approaches. I understand difficulties by thinking about what is going on around a person, including
at school, home, with friends and family and the wider community as well as social and cultural
influences. I also draw upon parent’s relationships with their children to support movement towards
meaningful changes.

Dr Kiran Sandhu

Forensic Psychologist

Dr Kiran Sandhu is a Forensic Psychologist, specialising in working with individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions across the lifespan.

Kiran has 13 years’ experience of working within mental health services across different clinical settings, with a diverse population. She achieved her Bachelor of Science degree, with honours, in Psychology in 2011. She then went on to complete her Doctorate in Forensic Psychology Practice at the University of Birmingham in 2014.

Since 2018, Kiran has primarily worked in neurodevelopmental assessment services across a range of NHS providers. She is a neurodiversity affirming clinician, skilled in assessing children, young people and adults for autism and ADHD. Kiran is someone who cares deeply about the work that she does and strives to ensure that the assessments she conducts are a collaborative process in which people are left feeling understood and validated. She seeks to understand the strengths and hopes of the people she assesses, whilst also acknowledging the difficulties they may face.

Kiran is trained in using ‘gold-standard’ assessment tools, including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Clinical Interview Adults (ACIA) for conducting autism assessments. She is also trained to use the ADHD Clinical Evaluation (ACE) and Diagnostic Interview for ADHD (DIVA-5/Young DIVA-5) for conducting ADHD assessments.

Kiran also has experience of conducting highly specialised psychological assessments of complex clients involved in child protection procedures. She also has experience in providing consultation to staff working within residential children’s homes. Kiran has also worked in inpatient services supporting adults with learning disabilities. Further, Kiran has experience in providing care and treatment to people who have served in the military, many of whom will have experienced complex trauma. As such, she is confident in working with a range of clinical presentations with varying severity.

Kiran is a registered practitioner psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (PYL31570).