‘There is an optimism in educational psychology’

'At one time being an educational psychologist was largely about one-off assessment,' John Hepburn tells me. 'We used to carry around these big suitcases full of testing materials and became something like assessment machines. Of course, assessment is still part of our work, but we emphasise a slightly different picture, based on teams of educational and clinical psychologists, educational consultants, assistant psychologists, and the usual company infrastructures working together to support schools, teachers, parents, and clients over time with an "under our care" model.'

How did John develop this approach?

Many worlds

John was born in Rochdale and his dad was working as a labourer on the M1 and nightshifts in factories. He then moved to Scotland when he was 7. 'When I was 10, my primary school headteacher suggested I try for a free place in an independent school. After a lot of mentoring from him, Daniel Stewarts in Edinburgh offered me a place.'

John says that given his background, he felt 'something of a fish out of water at the school, but they helped me develop lifelong friendships, ethics, social anchors, and a love of learning. Dad lost his job on a farm and the house that went with it. We lived in a residential caravan for six months (four people and many pets!). My parents separated due to the pressures of this, and we then went into hostels and B&Bs around Fife for a few years.'

Still travelling to school in Edinburgh, John had 'numerous long bus journeys from random places, where I could talk to people. In later life, I learned that I had accidentally been running a "many worlds" model as I wandered in and out of different economic, social, and cultural environments. This probably started my interest in narrative psychology.

At the same time one teacher at school – Mr Richardson – would ignore my educational scrapes and take the time to ask me how I was, what I was interested in and what I'd like from the school. He told inspiring stories about his own life, education, and learning. He gave me time and space to think and grow, and this approach influences how I work as a psychologist to this day.

'I then drifted for years, looking into law, writing, finance, and interior design. But I really enjoyed voluntary work mentoring in Edinburgh schools. 

I also lived in bookshops where I'd sit and read through books that interested me. That's where, at the age of 22, I stumbled upon Atkinson and Atkinson's Introduction to Psychology. I was so fascinated that I sold many of my treasured CDs in order to buy a copy. I knew then that I would be a psychologist. I went to FE college, started again, did A-levels and upgraded my qualifications. The college was full of interesting people: most of them older students grabbing a second chance. It was a good place to listen and learn.

'FE college was good for me, and it opened up lots of university options. I went to Nottingham University to study psychology. It was a lovely course with many inspiring lecturers. I set up study groups, and read far beyond the course and into Stephen J. Gould's works, E.O. Wilson, New Scientist and the like.'

Schools are as individual as people

What caused you to specialise in child and education psychology? 'Environments as much as anything else. I love schools. They seem light environments to me. They're all different and are as fascinating as people, with individual cultures and personalities. There is an optimism in educational psychology. It's fun to empower children, parents, teachers and schools and you can see progress very quickly.'

John worked as a primary school teacher for a few years. His professional training in educational psychology introduced him to the late Bob Stratford, 'who showed me how psychology could look at a person's whole environment. He stressed the importance of soft skills, whole school work, case analysis and formulation. I was an EP in local authorities, but I felt like I was stretched across so many schools.

I just couldn't see my wider impact other than writing reports and running a few projects. I looked at psychology in different countries, spoke to different psychologists, and was supported by really good businesspeople. I spent almost a year as a sole trader learning how to set up the infrastructure, and then I set up EdPsychs in 2009 when I had the right people around me.'

Psychologists often find setting up and running a company can be difficult. 'Yes, not least financially. But anyone doing this must look for advice and ignore any criticism. Coaching can help too. I learned a lot from friends who had set up legal practices, not least that you must be compliant: you must observe laws and professional standards.

You should set up the infrastructure first long before you start working. I spent a lot of time developing the core values of the company and what the implications of this would be on our professional practice and who we could work with. It actually made a complex life much easier.

Human beings are usually social creatures, so I wanted psychologists to work in teams rather than alone. We start psychologists at an assessment level to look at their case analysis, rapport-building skills and evidence-based practice, but many then move onto our wider systems work and school projects.'

How does this play out in the schools EdPsychs works with? ''There's lots of relationship building, developing classroom pedagogy, check-ins, and tracking with work underpinned by evidence, supervision, mentoring and flexibility. Assessments and consultations happen, but they live inside whole school training, psychoeducation, and support structures.' This approach fits with John's self-identification as a 'systems person'. 'My psychological training and the influence of extraordinarily insightful colleagues such as Professor Irvine Gersch – we've worked together since 2010 – has helped me.

'I think psychology is about asking questions and empowering people on their own authentic journeys. I'm enormously interested in positive psychology and looking at how to develop wellbeing and opportunity. I read about this in Life and How to Survive it by John Cleese and Robyn Skynner in 1996, and then I built a world around it.'

Eclectic leadership

You can find out more about John's organisation. What does the future hold both for it and for the profession as a whole? 'For EdPsychs, it's all about having a wider reach and impact in our work. I went to a great talk by Matthew Syed a few years ago which advocated having an eclectic leadership team with different skills, opinions, and backgrounds.

We now have far more educational consultants to support psychologists, and I'm part of two mastermind groups… I'm the only psychologist, and everyone else has far bigger companies than me… that feedback into EdPsychs. I feel that the more infrastructure a psychologist has, the more impactful our work can be. This is why we're working on software development and offering different services to schools'.

It's clear that a combination of life experiences, environments, reading, listening and individual mentors have formed John's approach to child psychology and the way his company operates. It's also clear that he'll be open to more influences in the future.