WillisPalmer has been providing expert psychological services for the past 19 years to a variety of organisations including local authorities, solicitors and private organisations. Our highly trained and experienced psychologists can provide a variety of services including assessments, expert reports and therapy. Our psychologists also work alongside other professionals including expert social workers, psychiatrists and family support workers in our multi-disciplinary interventions .
WillisPalmer has adapted our ways of working during the current pandemic to utilise technology to complement face-to-face work with children and families in line with government guidance to enable us to continue our work safely and ensure we adhere to our public health responsibilities. As a result, Psychological assessments are now available at LEGAL AID RATES.
Who are our services suitable for?
- Local authorities
- Solicitors
- Courts
- Independent organisations e.g. children’s residential homes
- Schools
The majority of our referrals come from local authorities and solicitors for assessments taking place in court proceedings and pre-proceedings under the public law outline (PLO). This usually involves our psychologists assessing parents for psychological issues, cognitive functioning and capacity to protect children to ascertain whether a parent has either mental health problems, learning disabilities or if they have the parenting capacity to protect children from potential abuse.
These assessments are carried out with parents before any other services become involved because if the parent presents with a personality disorder, for example, services need to be aware of that when working with the parent. Similarly, if the parent is assessed as having a learning disability, they may require a specialist PAMS assessment and may require more time or specific measures when other agencies become involved with the family.
Our psychologists also carry out assessments of children to determine whether the trauma they may have encountered has impacted on them psychologically. Psychologists may also carry out assessments around attachment to establish whether sibling attachment is present and whether siblings should be kept together or whether it would be beneficial to separate them. Parent-child attachment may also be assessed by our experts.
Our psychological services
Our experts offer a broad range of assessment and therapy services for children and their families, including the following:
- Expert assessment of parents in public and private law proceedings
- Assessment of psychological functioning
- Cognitive assessments
- Assessment of educational needs
- Responding to children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties
- Multi-disciplinary assessments
- Forensic risk assessments
Multi-disciplinary Services
As a genuinely multi-disciplinary organisation, WillisPalmer provides multi-disciplinary teams of psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, therapists and family support workers to provide support and intervention to children and families. Our Multi-Disciplinary Family Assessment service is a prime example of our professionals working together to address complex problems and keep families together where possible and safe to do so.
WillisPalmer also provides a genuinely Multi-Disciplinary Family Restoration Service primarily for children who are accommodated under S.20 or the subject of a Care Order or Interim Care Order.
Our multi-disciplinary team of experts comprising a social worker, psychologist and family support worker (FSW) work together to identify problems and work alongside the family to address these issues in a bid to keep families together and put an end to the revolving door phenomenon of children entering care, leaving care only to re-enter the care system at a later date. Read more about our Multi-Disciplinary Family Restoration Service.
Why choose WillisPalmer?
“Both the professionally qualified advocates and the Guardian were very impressed with the psychologist as a witness, and would like to pass on their thanks to him for the clear and concise way in which he was able to give his evidence”
Solicitor, South East England
“Whenever I require an expert to undertake an assessment, I always contact WillisPalmer as part of our search due to their swift response. I will definitely be using WillisPalmer again”
Solicitor, Kent
Benefits include:
- Our experts are experienced psychologists
- WillisPalmer has been established for 18 years garnering a reputation for high standards and professionalism
- Entirely independent organisation specialising in multi-disciplinary services
- We have worked with a wide range of local authorities, solicitors and independent organisations over the years
- All expert reports are scrutinised through our robust quality assurance process
How to make a referral/find out more information about our services
To make a referral to WillisPalmer, or to find out more information, you can contact us in the following ways.
- Telephone 01206 878178
- Email enquiry@willispalmer.com
- Website
We require certain specific details such as location in order for us to source the most appropriate expert to meet your needs - find out more here. We will endeavour to come back to you the same or next working day, depending on the time the enquiry is made, to provide you with further information about our services.
