Compassionate Art Psychotherapist and Activities Coordinator, with over 5 years of experience working closely with adolescents and children who have behavioural, emotional, mental health and cognitive learning difficulties. Creates supportive and safe environments for children and students to achieve their personal goals, and to meet their psycho-social needs; expertly navigating difficult behaviour-based situations with patience, resilience and understanding. Culturally sensitive empathic listener with excellent communication skills.
Hi, I’m
Alexandra Nicole Wooding
LONDON
Summary
Overview
5
years of professional experience
10
Certification
Education
Goldsmiths College, University of London London, UK
Master of Arts from Art Psychotherapy
09.2023
University Overview
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels Brussels, BEL
Master of Arts from Painting
08.2016
University Overview
Middlesex University London | London London, UK
Bachelor of Arts from Fine Arts And Technology (Honours)
07.2014
University Overview
Work History
CNWL NHS Foundation Trust
Bank Staff NHS Activities Coordinator
2022.04 - Current (2 years & 5 months)
Job overview
- Developed and implemented themed activities for children between the ages of 8 and 13, who have complex mental health problems, at the Collingham Child and Family Centre, part of the CNWL NHS CAMHS service
- Carrying out thorough risk assessments, enabling safe, compliant activity delivery in accordance with organisation's policies and standards
- Engaging children in diverse activities which focus on their social skills, their creativity, play, communication skills and interpersonal skills
- Planning age-appropriate and cultural activities which help develop the agency, social skills and dignity of the children.
- Coordinating and delivering a wide range of activities effectively, in line with specific client needs, enabling children to develop their self-esteem, whilst encouraging engagement and collaboration with adults and peers
- Preparing resources and materials efficiently, making sure activities are delivered in a safe environment, and reviewing plans with the permanent activity coordinator
- Building a good rapport with Lead Occupational Therapist
- Liaising with other professionals, including family therapists, occupational therapists, doctors, health care assistants and nurses, as part of a multi-disciplinary team
- Remaining calm and observant in challenging and stressful environments
- Maintaining high standard IP&C procedures, keeping the place tidy, clean and safe
West London NHS Trust, London
Art Psychotherapy trainee
2022.12 - 2023.05 (5 months)
Job overview
- Responsible for implementing and introducing Art Psychotherapy as a pilot scheme to the Mental Health Support team of Hounslow
- Ensuring safeguarding measures and procedures for children and young people have been implemented
- Documenting clinical art therapy interventions, using patient data recurding systmes such as Rio
Informing and liaising with my colleagues about clinical work with my clients - Supporting children and young people to express difficult feelings and thoughts through psychodynamic art therapy.
- Practicing art psychotherapy to groups & individual students in secondary and primary schools, combining psychoeducation and pscuhotherapy
- Adhering to GDPR regulations, upholding risk management policies and following organisation standards
- Applying outcome measures and assessing clients
Practicing within the Art Psychotherapy framework, working in a safe, boundaried and confidential way, and promoting a safe environment - Discussing client issues and findings in weekly supervision session and caseload meetings, and participating in whole-team meetings
- Liaising with School Wellbeing Officers & school staff, parents and maintaining professional relationships
- Used critical thinking to break down problems, evaluate solutions and make decisions.
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
College Park School
Art Therapy Trainee
2021.10 - 2022.05 (7 months)
Job overview
- Implemented school policies, procedures and guidelines about safeguarding
- Offering 1-1 art therapy to non-verbal children on the Autistic Spectrum, who have moderate to complex needs
- Sticking to Art Therapy guidelines and working within a specific non-directive Art Therapy framework
- Following regular weekly clinical supervision
- Maintaining professional relationships and regularly liaising with the teachers, parents and clinical supervisor about the progress of clients.
- Valuing and researching the socio-cultural backgrounds of clients, enabling a culturally sensitive safe space for self-expression
- Encouraging social skills through collaboration, turn-taking and play, and creating appropriate visual prompts to support the needs of clients
- Understanding the ethical framework standards and practicing guidelines for art therapy, and applying them to therapy sessions
- Respecting and maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of all patients
- Writing out assessment reports and process notes about my client's progress.
Tradewind/ Sanza Agency
SEN Teaching Assistant
2021.02 - 2021.12 (10 months)
Job overview
- Applying Montessori methods while working in nurseries, encouraging children to work independently
- Nurturing students' ability to navigate complex emotional and social difficulties, providing support and encouragement
- Supervising and supporting special needs children during group tasks and individual activities through active listening and prompting, ensuring safety and access to learning
- Keeping students safe inside and outside classrooms by proactively monitoring behaviours, and creating a safe environment during activities, meals and naps
- Providing 1-1 assistance and tutoring to children requiring additional help in the classroom
- Preparing lesson materials, resources and visual aids to reinforce lesson concepts
- Participating with children in art and play activities
- Assisting the children to eat during meal time, and encouraging sharing.
The Bridge Academy
Learning Support Assistant
2021.05 - 2021.06 (1 month)
Job overview
- Liaising with other LSAs and SENDCo to exchange resources, and to ensure pupil's needs are being met appropriately
- Planning original routine-based individual lesson plans, which included music lessons, sand-play and sensory learning time
- Maintaining an understanding, caring and supportive attitude while supporting a pupil who has Level 3 Autism, who is non-verbal
- Communicating through Makaton, and other forms of visual communication
- Encouraging creativity in the pupil; whether that's encouraging the use of musical instruments, to play rhythms, or assisting the pupil in making artworks
- Encouraging simple tasks, of 1 or 2-step instructions, to promote and develop the pupil's agency and cognitive skills
- Making use of Numericon and other alternative multisensory methods of learning, to practice counting and problem-solving skills
- Supporting students with their hand and eye co-ordination, manual dexterity and writing skills
Learning, Woodbridge Park Education Service
Mentor
2020.01 - 2020.05 (4 months)
Job overview
- Mentoring vulnerable students aged 11 to 14 (KS3)
- Observing and assisting in play therapy sessions with a registered professional Play therapist
- Organizing one-to-one non-directive art workshops and storytelling for the younger pupils, to help them practice emotional regulation and improve relationships with their peers
- Promoting the school ethos of fostering positive relationships and following advice and instructions on how to manage disruptive behaviour
- Monitoring pupils so that themselves and their peers feel safe inside the school, creating a positive learning atmosphere
- Mentoring older pupils using resources /worksheets from a CBT therapy and well-being book for teenagers
- Consulting the children's specific EHC plans, informing myself of their personal history
- Working in a team to report incidents, safeguarding, filling in MyConcern forms
- Following safe GDPR practice when handling personal information, and confidentiality, when needed
- Keeping parents up to date about their children's well-being and actions at school
- Carefully listening to pupils needs, providing helpful advice on relationships with their peers, resulting in increased confidence and self-esteem and giving them an outlet for creative expression
- Liaising with teachers to discuss and identify learners who would benefit from extra support.
Woodbridge Park Education Service
Teaching Assistant
2019.09 - 2019.12 (3 months)
Job overview
- Liaising with teachers about pupils' wellbeing
- Organizing creative art & craft workshops for children at the end of each week
- Providing one-to-one support for pupils who have experienced trauma, depression, who are neurodiverse; and have a diagnosis of ADHD, ASD or a SpLD
- Taking the register, marking homework, filling in target sheets and maintaining routine pupil records
- Establishing positive relationships with pupils, through active listening and leading by example, responding appropriately to their needs
- Ensuring pupil safety inside and outside classroom.
Jack Tizard School
SEN Teaching Assistant
2019.09 - 2019.10 (1 month)
Job overview
- Supporting children aged 5 to 9, who have Down's Syndrome, in the classroom, at lunch, and at play
- Assisting the children in sensory play and breaking down tasks for them, in the classroom
- Encouraging student interaction in group settings, maintaining safety and sensitivity to a variety of special needs
- Establishing positive relationships with students, parents, fellow teachers and school administrators
- Monitoring students in class, in the pool, in hallways and during meal time, helping them eat their food
- Taking part in Hydrotherapy pool sessions with the students, supporting their co-ordination and balance
Claremont High School
SEN Teaching Assistant
2018.09 - 2019.07 (10 months)
Job overview
- Working with teenagers who have been diagnosed with Autism (11 and 14 years old)or who have SEN across KS3, KS4 and KS5
- Working with the Brent Outreach Autism Team on behaviour management plans
- Supporting pupils with ADHD or SpLD, in individualized and/or group settings
- Encouraging and supporting pupils with self-expression, problem-solving skills, emotional development, cognitive and/or language skills
- Actively listening to pupil's needs, and keeping them safe
- Understanding EHC plans and Individual Plans for each pupil I worked with
- Creating visual aids and comic strips to help the pupils break down information from the lesson, visual prompts
- Planning joint lessons with ABA for a pupil with a diagnosis of Level 3 Autism (non-verbal)
- Liaising with teachers and SENDCo to differentiate work for pupils.
Skills
Art Psychotherapy
Team work
Active listening
Patience
Resilience
Risk Assessment
Good communication skills
GDPR
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Leadership
Certification
- Level 3 NCFE CACHE Understanding Mental Health, Learning Curve
- Level 2 Award in Counselling Skills for Working with Children, Place2Be
- Level 2 Team Teach - Positive Handling Training, Team Teach
- Mental health First Aid Youth, MHFA England
- Foundation in Art Psychotherapy, BAAT
- Understanding Development - Adolescence, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
- SEND Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Diploma, Centre of Excellence Online
Languages
English, Greek
Native language
French
Upper intermediate
B2
Timeline
Art Psychotherapy trainee
West London NHS Trust
2022.12 - 2023.05 (5 months)
Bank Staff NHS Activities Coordinator
CNWL NHS Foundation Trust
2022.04 - Current (2 years & 5 months)
Art Therapy Trainee
College Park School
2021.10 - 2022.05 (7 months)
Learning Support Assistant
The Bridge Academy
2021.05 - 2021.06 (1 month)
SEN Teaching Assistant
Tradewind/ Sanza Agency
2021.02 - 2021.12 (10 months)
Mentor
Learning, Woodbridge Park Education Service
2020.01 - 2020.05 (4 months)
Teaching Assistant
Woodbridge Park Education Service
2019.09 - 2019.12 (3 months)
SEN Teaching Assistant
Jack Tizard School
2019.09 - 2019.10 (1 month)
SEN Teaching Assistant
Claremont High School
2018.09 - 2019.07 (10 months)
Goldsmiths College, University of London
Master of Arts from Art Psychotherapy
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels
Master of Arts from Painting
Middlesex University London | London
Bachelor of Arts from Fine Arts And Technology (Honours)
- Level 3 NCFE CACHE Understanding Mental Health, Learning Curve
- Level 2 Award in Counselling Skills for Working with Children, Place2Be
- Level 2 Team Teach - Positive Handling Training, Team Teach
- Mental health First Aid Youth, MHFA England
- Foundation in Art Psychotherapy, BAAT
- Understanding Development - Adolescence, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
- SEND Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Diploma, Centre of Excellence Online
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