Priya Dhingra
Founder, The Ed Psych Practice

Priya set up The Ed Psych Practice in central London in January 2010. Priya was a successful Educational Psychologist who carried out her Ed Psych training at UCL and subsequently worked with Local Authorities. She also practised at Dyslexia Action and Lyn Fry Associates. It was her vision to establish her own practice that would allow her to support children and young people with a range of developmental needs across educational and home settings so that they could thrive and achieve. Priya was able to realise that dream and spent years running a busy and successful multi-disciplinary Practice before her sudden death in July 2019.

Priya was a forward thinking and dedicated psychologist who was passionate about her work and spent so much time and energy supporting children and young people throughout her career. She loved working collaboratively, was well respected by colleagues and peers, and shared her experience, time and knowledge generously. Priya was proud of the team she gathered together and helped countless children, young people and families over the years.

 

Priya believed passionately in a team approach to meeting the needs of young people, families and schools. Although she was the person everyone turned to when they wanted information or a discussion, Priya was always curious to question, understand and to learn from others. She valued a collaborative approach to working and gathered together a team of Educational Psychologists, Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Paediatricians and Specialist Teachers who could share ideas and support children together.

Priya ensured that the Office Managers and support staff had knowledge and understanding of each profession's way of working so that they could link parents and schools with the appropriate professionals. Priya attracted people with similar values to herself with the result that we have a caring, creative and dedicated team who are committed to continuing to work in a collaborative way.

Priya wanted The Ed Psych Practice to offer work that is high quality and in line with best practice guidelines. She combined oversight of the whole team and their work with incredible attention to detail. Priya provided high quality supervision and case discussions, proofreading and peer reviewing of reports, provision of up to date assessment tools in line with current guidelines, regular team meetings, and a library of textbooks, journals and books for ideas and reference. Priya had so much positive feedback over the years about the detailed and thorough approach by her team and the excellent quality of the reports. We want to continue to uphold these standards in the work of The Ed Psych Practice.

Priya always heard the voice of the child. She was diligent in ensuring she gained the child or young person's viewpoint when carrying out assessments. Priya would always work with schools and parents to get a full picture about the student in different environments and situations. She would show great determination in getting all of the relevant information to help her gain a clear picture of the child's strengths and needs. The child's best interests were at the heart of every assessment that Priya did and she would not be swayed by other people's agendas. She always encouraged her team to take time to gather more information or to do more assessment if needed. She recognised how important a positive assessment experience can be to a young person's learning journey, and we will endeavour to keep the young person at the heart of our work at The Ed Psych Practice.

Priya was determined to have a Therapy team as an integral part of The Ed Psych Practice to support young people and families with their emotional wellbeing. She understood that therapy can help young people cope with life's challenges. Priya also recognised the importance of emotional support for the team, whether it was through a cup of tea and a chat with a colleague, or arranging a team meal.

The Ed Psych Practice was Priya's pride and joy and although she is not here with us, she lives on in the work that we do. We will always keep her close by remembering her dedication, intellect, enthusiasm, work ethic and the care and support that she showed to those in her life.

Priya's husband, daughters, family, friends and colleagues miss her so much and will always remember her life and the amazing contribution she made through her work.

We want to honour Priya by continuing to run The Ed Psych Practice with Priya's values and philosophy in mind.

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others' (Pericles)