Leigh is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist with 15 years of experience working in a range of settings, such as schools and special education, hospital and mental health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, and refugee support services.
For many years, Leigh worked therapeutically with children and young people who experienced violence or adversity including abuse, neglect, persecution, war, incarceration, and marginalisation. In the past 5 years, Leigh has worked in the Kimberley to co-design and implement disability supports for young children and their families. She also provided coaching and consultancy on trauma-informed behaviour support practices and policies in rural and remote schools. In previous roles, Leigh has conducted psychological assessments, facilitated parenting interventions, coordinated capacity-building projects, and designed and delivered training for educators and allied health practitioners.
Leigh is passionate about integrating her experience and knowledge in psychology with critical theories and social models to reassess who or what is meant for intervention, and about addressing the systemic barriers and biases that perpetuate disparities in children’s mental health, development and education.
As an experienced psychologist and consultant, Leigh is skilled in drawing on various forms of evidence to guide consultations on the design and implementation of interventions, and in supporting organisations through practice adaptation and evaluation. As part of this work, Leigh offers a way to build critical reflexivity in leaders so that they are better able to identify and respond to the emotional, ethical, epistemological and sociopolitical factors that shape decisions about the use of evidence and resources within the helping professions.
Leigh holds a Master’s degree in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Western Australia and a Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences from Australian Catholic University.