Associate Work at Purple House

Spotlight On: Mireille Wallace: Senior Psychologist

Mireille

My Career Background

I am a chartered educational psychologist with nearly twenty years experience of working with children and young people across many sectors, mainly educational. For six years, I worked in the public health sector, engaging young people in all aspects of healthcare through GP surgeries and counselling helplines. Working across diverse areas, including rural poverty for twelve years, helped steep my working knowledge of high index need across North Lanarkshire Local Authority. During this time, I worked in mainstream and specialist schools, supporting individual pupils. I also sat on the fostering and adoption panel for many years and did more specialised therapeutic work using EMDR.  

I started off working at The Purple House Clinic Glasgow in 2018 as a self-employed Associate. I am now thrilled to be employed full-time by the clinic as a Senior Psychologist. 

My Work at The Purple House Clinic

In my role at The Purple House Clinic, I support children with a variety of mental health concerns, including anxiety and trauma, often working with caregivers and parents. In addition, I support families with their children’s neurodevelopmental needs. I carry out educational assessments such as cognitive and dyslexia assessments. In addition, I work in a consultative role for BBC Bitesize on bespoke educational psychology issues. I also work as a consultant for The High School of Glasgow, providing advice and support to staff and parents and rolling out progressive programmes of whole class work as well as specific areas of group work.

What I enjoy most about my work

Early intervention strategies with children and young people are highly beneficial, often preventing needs becoming more complex and clinical. Children can be very flexible  and resilient, meaning that making small changes can have substantial rewards. 

The ability to make transformative steps to engage more in learning is instrumental to increased self-esteem and sociability with peers. Involving care-givers and parents within directed psychoeducation, allows for more sustainable, systemic support structures. 

The benefits of being a Purple House Associate

I worked as a Purple House Associate for four years and during this time, I really appreciated the indispensable work of the administrative team. I was given detailed client referrals, allowing me to have substantial background information. Working within a multidisciplinary team with other expert clinicians as an Associate gave great impetus to share knowledge and working practices. I enjoyed a huge variety across my caseloads and no two days were the same!

Progression to a substantive post at Purple House

At the end of the summer, I became a fully-employed Senior Psychologist at Purple House Clinic, Glasgow. I was ready for a new career challenge, relishing the opportunity to use my substantial experience in new areas. I am now involved in carrying out a full range of neurodevelopmental assessments, including ASD and cognitive assessments. I am really excited to be involved with this and in the future, I look forward in particular to helping facilitate more empowering narratives around autism. I want to see less emphasis on the impairment/deficit model, which is alienating to many children. I want to focus on what is beautiful within autism and models of strength. I also value being able to work intensively in a therapeutic capacity and supporting children and young people to overcome significant challenges and live happier lives. 

Mireille

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