About  Us…Making Inclusion Happen

Why Us |Colin | Derek | Our Associates | Our Publications

Colin and Derek meet with President McAleese of Ireland

Colin Newton and Derek Wilson are Co-founders and Directors of Inclusive Solutions

Together they have a combined experience of over 50 years experience as educational psychologists working across the UK. Previously as Principal and Senior strategic Educational Psychologists in Nottingham City LEA, they bring a wealth of practical, applied solutions and processes from their work with children and young people with exceptional needs aged between 0-19.

Between 2001 and 2008 together they have published a number of books including: Incurably Human,Seeing the Charade and Dear Parents. Most recently they have set up a Community Interest Company  together with Cat Wilson called "A Place in the World' as a structure for an Independent Support Brokerage.Their training, consultation work, publishing, writing and  community building continue.

Why Us?

We are experienced, nationally renowned educational psychologists who specialise in mainstream inclusion.

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Colin Newton

MSc. Educational Psychology, BSc. Psychology, PGCE and Special tutor University of Nottingham ( AEP, HPC registered)

From 1998 -2001 Colin was Principal Educational Psychologist of City of Nottingham LEA where he contributed to the consultation on and successful development of an inclusive education policy across the LEA. In 1999 Colin and Derek collaborated in the writing of Circles of Friends reflecting some 5 years of training and development work to bring this approach to the UK. In 2001 he co founded Inclusive Solutions with Derek to promote the mainstream inclusion of all children and adults across the UK whatever their difference, impairment or challenge.

In 2004 Colin and Derek wrote Creating Circles of Friends a revised and extended version of the original text including a chapter on secondary schools. In 2006 he co wrote 'Circle of Adults: A Team Approach to Problem Solving Around Challenging Behaviour and Emotional Needs'. Colin completed the writing of Restorative Solutions -  Making it Work together with Helen Mahaffey in 2008. 

Colin and Derek are currently creating a new book entitled 'Keys to Inclusion' which will contain many of the ideas they use when delivering the training day of the same name.

Colin's career has been values driven, but also practical using applied psychology in training and real life problem solving with schools, families and individual children and young people

• From 1989-1998 Colin worked in Nottinghamshire educational psychology service as a senior psychologist in Nottingham city with a specialist role in research and development. During this period Colin co wrote Managing Change in Schools, a practical handbook. He led on the development of the 'Bulwell Vision' a community initiative to improve behaviour in a disadvantaged city area
• He spent 5 years in Essex as an educational psychologist
• Colin started out as a primary school teacher in East Anglia and then went on to train and work as an Educational Psychologist in Newcastle
• Colin is a parent to two sons and a daughter

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Derek Wilson

MA Psychology, MA Child Psychology

Derek has long-standing expertise and interest in peer support in all its forms and has collaborated in the development of a nationally recognised 'best practice' peer counselling scheme/anti-bullying initiative within a Nottingham comprehensive school. In 2001 he co founded Inclusive Solutions with Colin to promote the mainstream inclusion of all children and adults across the UK whatever their difference, impairment or challenge. Derek serves on the Council of Management of The Alliance for Inclusive Education.In 2006 he co wrote 'Circle of Adults: A Team Approach to Problem Solving Around Challenging Behaviour and Emotional Needs'.

• Derek began his career in special needs education at a special school for children with autism, initially as an educational psychologist and then as Headteacher
• Derek has been an LEA Educational Psychologist since 1982, he has supported a wide range of special and mainstream schools, developed a specialist Pre School Unit and a LEA Portage Service
• From 1998 -2001 Derek took a lead role in developing inclusive practice within Nottingham City LEA as a senior educational psychologist
• He worked jointly with consultants from the University of New Hampshire USA, successful in gaining DfEE Standards Fund monies to pilot an LEA Inclusion Facilitation Team
• Further joint work with the University of Vermont, USA led to the development of a pilot Speech and Language Therapy project, also DfEE funded.
• In 1999 he co-authored 'Circles of Friends' with Colin Newton and has delivered training on peer support to a wide variety of audiences
• In 2004 Derek rewote the original text with Colin including a secondary chapter: Creating Circles of Friends.
• Derek is a parent to two daughters

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Doug and Maggie Newton

Admin, Marketing and Accounts 

Yes this is Colin's mum and dad! Doug sends out the fliers, keeps a track of who we know and does the invoicing! Maggie is at the end of the phone, not to mention plenty of other stuff...

All accounts and admin queries phone: 01473 437590

Associates who work with us

Micheline Mason | Jackie Dearden | Ju Hayes | Robin Tinker |Jaynie Mitchell |Cat Wilson |Helen Mahaffey|Jack Pearpoint |Carol Tashie | Robi Kronburg |Paula Kluth

When I was born I was thought to be perfect, (which of course I was). After four days my parents became very concerned at my incessant crying every time they picked me up or tried to change my nappy. They took me back to hospital where X-rays helped doctors to diagnose Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or 'Brittle Bones'. As I already had fractures in my legs they thought I had a very 'severe' form of the condition, and told my parents that I would probably not live very long. I have a deep and defining memory of this moment when it felt that the whole world stepped back from me.

Being a disabled child is very different from being a non- disabled child. The world you inhabit is shaped by prejudice, assumptions, false predictions, and fear. Your ability to withstand this is dependent on the people with whom you are connected – how much they can love you and protect you from the value judgements of others. This is itself a matter of luck – how much support and information they themselves have, and how confident they are to challenge authority and the insidious attempts of society to de-value their children.

My family were a mixed bag. They did love me, of this I had no doubt, but they did not have the confidence to fight for me. Consequently my early years were dominated by professionals and by the power of the State to separate me from 'ordinary' society. I spent many months in hospitals, and many years isolated at home. My education consisted of five hours a week Home Tuition while my sister went to school. The boredom and loneliness was crushing.

At the age of fourteen I went to a residential Special School in Hampshire, at my own request. It was the first and only place in the UK in which disabled girls could study up to A' level standard. There I was able to study a greater range of subjects and consequently get the qualifications to get into Art College, my sole ambition of the time. More importantly, it gave me access to other young women like me, all of us angry at how the world was treating us. Much healing laughter and tears were shared in our night time dormitories.

At Seventeen I went to Art College. It was my first venture into the able-bodied world and neither side were prepared for it. I was too shy to speak, they were too awkward to help. I spent three fairly unhappy years learning about the world in which I had been told I was too 'faulty' to enter. I was generally shocked and disillusioned. The non-disabled world was really not that great, and the people in it seemed to know very little. I realised that I was not motivated by competition, greed or artistic ego, and that commercial art was not for me. This of course led to a big problem in that I was not trained to do anything else. Added to the fact that most employers were too shocked by my diminutive size to imagine me managing in their factories or offices, I was forced down a very difficult path to follow, but one which has, in the end, been infinitely richer and more satisfying than a life designing cereal boxes or advertisements. I had to learn to take charge of my own life.

The remainder of my story up to now demands a whole book to be written. The significant events are:

• all my close relationships
• becoming politicised via the women's movement
• discovering and joining the Alternative Society, (a meeting place for radical thinkers in all areas of social development from world peace to education, including Dr E.F. Schumacher, Leopld Kohr and many others)
• meeting Harvey Jackins and (partially) recovering from past hurts through learning to use the tools of Re-Evaluation Co-Counselling
• helping to develop the Disability Movement
• daring to have a baby
• meeting politicised parents of disabled children
• meeting Richard Rieser and starting the Alliance for Inclusive Education
• the ongoing struggle to use my counselling, speaking, artistic and literary skills in the service of humanity rather than profit

I currently live in Tooting, London and have recently become self employed having been the Co-Ordinator/Director of the Alliance for fifteen years. I am a regular writer of an 'Opinion Page' for Community Care Magazine and have recently become a patron of the Children's Rights Alliance for England.

I still believe that people are essentially good, and can and will eventually build a classless, inclusive society. I love being part of making it happen.

Apart from all the above issues, I am interested in listening to folk music, painting and photography, and am working with a group of friends to set up 'Full Circle', a co-housing community in the West of England in which one day I hope to live with my friends, growing old disgracefully together.

Read more of Micheline's story on her website .

Jackie Dearden

www.jackiedearden.co.uk
Jackie is involved in a range of training and consultancy, which includes working as an educational psychologist in Nottingham City. Her doctoral research has led to publications about resilience (particularly in relation to children and young people in public care) and multi-agency working.

Jackie’s current interests also include action research (especially in relation to challenging assumptions and improving practice for young people with severe communication impairments), graphic facilitation processes and effective inclusive practice.

Ju Hayes

Julia Hayes is an experienced Educational Psychologist who is passionate about inclusion both here in the UK and in Latin America (www.inclusioncreativa.com) She worked as a Psychologist in the statutory sector for 10 years, where she had opportunity to work in a specialist team that aimed to prevent children being permanently excluded from school. She has also worked in the voluntary sector as a participation co-ordinator for Barnardos, where she published various training tools to enable organisations to find ways of giving children a voice. She is the co-director of Children's Participation Consultancy, which trains staff teams and organisations in listening to children and young people, and finds out what children want on behalf of organisations (www.childrensparticipation.co.uk), when she is not flying over to Colombia to help them think about how to include children with minimal resources!

Robin Tinker

Robin worked for more than 20 years at Elliott Durham Secondary School in the City of Nottingham, latterly as a Head of Department of Humanities and PSHE. In 1995 he and Derek Wilson were responsible for instigating and developing the school’s Anti Bullying Campaign (ABC), a Peer Counselling scheme. ABC became nationally and internationally recognised as a model of “best practice.”

In March 2000, Robin was seconded to Nottingham City Education Department for 2 years to manage the Restorative Conferencing /Peer Support project. This project, funded by the Home Office, introduced Peer Support schemes and Restorative Interventions into Nottingham schools and involved the training of Education Department colleagues, school staff and pupils.

In April 2002, Robin was appointed to lead the Anti Bullying Support Team in the City of Nottingham, which continues to advocate Restorative and Peer Support processes, as anti bullying strategies. The team is also responsible for writing Nottingham City Children’s Services guidance to schools on Anti Bullying policies and strategies. The ABS team also acts as a consultation service for schools who wish to undertake any strategic Anti-Bullying work or training with staff or students.

In 2004 Robin’s work in the general area of Restorative Justice was recognised by an invitation to meet the Prime Minister in Downing Street.
Robin has worked extensively throughout the UK as a presenter, facilitator and consultant on several areas in education, most notably Peer Support and Restorative Approaches. His work on Peer Support as an Anti-Bullying strategy was shown by the BBC in April 2004 in the series of programmes: “Britain’s Secret Shame”.  

In 2005, Robin joined the Anti-Bullying Alliance’s East Midlands regional steering group, and also contributed to the DfES National Programme for Specialist Leaders for Behaviour and Attendance on Peer Support.

In February 2007, Robin was invited to join the DfES scoping group on “Gangs and Bullying” which advised the department on ways of tackling this important issue.

Robin’s work was recognised in 2008 when the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation conferred “Approved Provider” status on all the Peer Support programmes provided by the Anti-Bullying Team. This unique award named Nottingham City as “a benchmark Local Authority” for this work.

Robin is a parent to one son.

 Jaynie Mitchell

Jaynie works for Inspiring Inclusion providing events, training and consultancy across Scotland to foster support and promote inclusive communities and citizenship for all. Jaynie also hosts and promotes the work of Inclusive Solutions across Scotland.

Contact Jaynie on 07837265159 or inspiringinc@btinternet.com .

Cat Wilson

Hi I am Derek's Daughter and I work with Inclusive Solutions on training, events and brokerage development, I also update and maintain this website.

In my 'day job' I work with disabled adults in Nottingham to help people have more control over their lives using person centred approaches. As Person Centred Planning Coordinator I deliver lots of training on a wide range of person centred approaches and tools to very varied audiences. My passion is facilitating MAPS and PATH to enable people and their families and friends to think about and move towards the future they want, I am also passionate about building communities and helping people to belong to their communities. I also support a group of learning disabled adults who are setting up their own training and consultancy business.

In 2007 I travelled to New Jersey to stay with Patti Scott CEO of Neighbours Inc -Support Brokerage to learn from them. It was a truely amazing experience and people I met there continue to inspire the work that I do today.

Helen Mahaffey

Helen Mahaffey MSc, has extensive experience of working restoratively in youth offending services, schools and community settings. Her previous experience as a probation officer has spanned across a range of interventions with both adults and young people within the context of criminal justice. Helen coordinated one of the Restorative Justice in Schools pilot projects and the model implemented was subsequently rolled out nationally. She continues to practice as a consultant and trainer and is an author within this field. She also practices as a Systemic Child and Family Psychotherapist within the specialised field of child and adolescent mental health, in: health, schools and community settings in the London area. Helen is registered under the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy, she tutors on a post- graduate Systemic Psychotherapy course and is herself  currently on a doctoral program .

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International Associates

Jack Pearpoint

Jack is a dear friend and inspiration to our work here at Inclusive Solutions. Without him there would be no us!

Inclusion Press creates person centered resource materials for training events, public schools, high schools, community colleges, universities, human service agencies, health organizations, government agencies, families, First Nations organizations - nationally and internationally.

Carol Tashie

Carol Tashie was Project Co-ordinator, Institute on Disability at The University of New Hampshire USA. Carol is the co-ordinator of both New Hampshire's Statewide School Systems Change Project and the Post Secondary Education Consortium of New Hampshire administered by The Institute on Disability.

Carol is co-author of From Special to Regular, From Ordinary to Extraordinary (1996) and Petroglyphs: The Writing on the Wall (1997) and Changes in Attitudes. Changes in Latitudes: The Role of the Inclusion facilitator. Prior to joining The Institute, Carol was one of the first Inclusion facilitators in New Hampshire (moving in the process from the traditional special education teacher role) and was responsible for returning all of her District's students to their neighbourhood mainstream schools.

Read more about the training programme for Inclusion Facilitators at The Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire at: http://iod.unh.edu/projects/inclusion_facilitator.html

Robi Kronberg

Robi Kronberg has worked as a consultant with school districts throughout the United States. The two areas of greatest focus for her work are differentiated teaching and inclusion. Both of these areas address practical ways of supporting diverse learners in mainstream schools. Her approach to differentiated instruction addresses a wide range of diverse learners including students with disabilities, students who are gifted, those who don't speak English as a primary language and so on.

Robi has been in education for 25 years. She has worked as a special needs teacher, a Senior Consultant at the Colorado Department of Education, a professor, and a coordinator of many federal grants. She has a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration and a Masters in Special Education.

 Paula Kluth

Paula Kluth is an independent educational consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. Her professional and research interests centre on differentiating instruction and on supporting students with autism and significant disabilities in inclusive classrooms.  She has a M.Ed. in Educational Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Wisconsin.  She is a former special educator who has served as a classroom teacher, consulting teacher, and inclusion facilitator. She also regularly works with family organizations and disability-rights and advocacy groups.  She is the author of “You’re Going to Love This Kid”: Educating Students with Autism in Inclusive Classrooms (2003, Jessica Kingsley Publishing) and “Just Give Him the Whale – 20 Ways to use Fascinations, Areas of Expertise and Strengths to Support Students with Autism (with Patrick Schwartz, 2003, Brookes Publishing).  She has also written many articles and chapters on inclusive schooling.  She is currently conducting research on the literacy experiences of students with autism.  She thanks the real experts- those with disabilities and their families- for sharing their lives and expertise and teaching her all she knows about disability, ability, and inclusion. For more on Paula’s approaches to the education of young people with autism go to: www.paulakluth.com

Our Publications

Who has received training and consultancy from Inclusive Solutions so far?

• LEAs including Newham, South Tyneside, Hartlepool, Essex, Southwark, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Oldham, Doncaster, Bracknell Forest, Isle of White, Sutton, South and North Lanarkshire, Oxfordshire, Glasgow, Herefordshire and Knowsley
• Schools: primary, secondary, and special in Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City, Essex, North East England, Oldham, London, Scotland and elsewhere
• Children, young people and their families
• Health Authority employees in the learning disability, mental health fields as well as those in paediatric services
• Social Services Teams
• Parent groups such as Parents for Inclusion and Parent Partnership Projects
• Educational Psychological Services such as Essex, Oldham, Oxfordshire, Wakefield and Surrey, West Lothian
• Canadian inclusion advocates in Toronto
• Stamford USA: The ARC organization
• Teachers and researchers in Nova Scotia

•  Voluntary Organisations and groups such as the St Ann's Artists of Nottingham
• Charities such as Kidscape
• The Association of Educational Psychologists
• City of Nottingham Museum Services
• Connexions services in Cumbria and Derbyshire
• Early Years Providers across the UK including Southwark, Lambeth, Durham, Lancashire and Oxfordshire
• Irish Travellers
• Greek Teachers in Athens

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Email Gerv Leyden Nottingham University Lecturer and Associate tutor for Educational Psychologists in training and ask him...

A wonderful presentation - matching our learning needs - professional delivery - interesting content. All in all an excellent session....we will talk about you for a long time!

Head of Behaviour Support Service
Isle of Wight

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