Laverne Antrobus

Laverne Antrobus is a consultant child and educational psychologist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust. She is also a clinical supervisor on the professional doctorate in child and educational community psychology, working to train the next generation of psychologists.

She has been a consultant child and educational psychologist for 25 years, having training at the Tavistock Clinic. Laverne works with children who present with complex social, emotional, behavioural and psychiatric difficulties and works in one of the Tavistock's specialist multi-disciplinary teams supporting children who are struggling with conditions such as autism, ADHD and depression.

Prior to becoming a psychologist, Laverne was a primary school teacher, as a psychologist she has worked in local authorities in London supporting teachers to manage children with difficult behaviour in the classroom.

Most recently she has led courses that support staff to manage the mental health needs of children in school. In addition, as part of a consortium of which the Tavistock is a partner, she has delivered training for a pilot project that aims to strengthen the relationship between schools and community mental health services. The project is supported by the Department of Education and NHS England.

Laverne appears on popular daytime broadcasts and is often asked to give a psychological perspective on issues that affect children and their families in both radio and print media. She has made programmes on childhood for the BBC and appears on the CBeebies Grownups website and iWonder website.

Laverne has appeared on Secret Lives of Five Year Olds, Little and Teen Angels and House of Tiny Tearaways.

Laverne chairs the African charity Siya Phulaphula "We Listen" which funds study in London for black South Africans and is also linked with the Institute for Psychodynamic Child Psychotherapy in Johannesburg.

As trustee of the charity ChildHope UK she supports staff who work with some of the most vulnerable children in Africa and Asia.

Laverne wrote a number of chapters for the book, "Help your Kids with Growing Up' which was published in July 2017 by Dorling Kindersley. Laverne's chapters focus on dealing with conflict, including parent-teen relationships, family upheaval, and peer pressure.

Laverne has also served on award juries for the Royal Television Society and Grierson and was on the Children's BAFTA panel for Learning this year.