About Us
Dr Nikkita Osiadacz
Clinical Director and Clinical Psychologist
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).
%20(1)%20(1).jpg)
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
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 Amy Clare
Clinical Psychologist
Dr Amy Clare is a registered practitioner with the Health and Care Professions Council (PYL37366).
Amy achieved her Bachelor of Science Degree, with honours, in Psychology from the University of Kent in 2001. She then went on to complete a Postgraduate Diploma in Speech and Language Therapy at City University in 2005. Amy then retrained as a Clinical Psychologist by completing a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Salomon’s Institute of Applied Psychology in 2019.
Amy has worked within the NHS since 2019 as a Clinical Psychologist supporting people across the lifespan from young children to older adults. She has worked with children and adults who have been given the diagnosis of a learning disability and/or an autism spectrum condition, children and adolescents who have experienced brain injury and older adults diagnosed with dementia.
Prior to training as a Clinical Psychologist, she worked as a Speech and Language Therapist within the NHS for 13 years supporting children and adults with a diagnosis of a learning disability, complex medical needs and neurological conditions.
Amy has experience of carrying out autism assessments, neuropsychology assessments and cognitive assessments in order to develop an understanding of concerns and inform recommendations for individuals, families, support staff and schools. Amy is trained to carry out the ADOS-2 and ADI-R.