Andy Baker

Andy is a specialist SEN primary school teacher, based in north Somerset, who has focused on Special Educational Needs for 20 years. He was a SENCo for 18 years, has been an Advisory Teacher for a Local Authority and a Children’s Social Care Team in North Somerset, specialising in attachment-aware practice. He currently works part-time as The Lead Teacher for Pupil Engagement and SEND with a Multi Academy Trust in North Somerset as well as running his own business. He is an accredited Group Theraplay^© trainer, offering the 2-day course to organisations who wish to use Group Theraplay, either as part of an emotional wellbeing, PSHE programme or to support vulnerable children. He developed the use of Group Theraplay initially in his own school, both with whole classes and in a more targeted manner for groups of vulnerable children. He has also trained in DDP to level 2 and in the Incredible Years Parenting and School programmes. Andy is an accredited Theraplay^© dyadic practitioner (Foundational) and has used this intervention to support children and parents and in schools with key members of staff. This approach works well as part of a broader ’trauma-informed approach.
He is also a member of the National Attachment Lead network (see attachmentleadnetwork.net for details). He is qualified to deliver the Two-Day Youth Mental Health First Aid Course from Mental Health First Aid England. Andy can be reached at [email protected]

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