Ellen Charlesworth

This week we were pleased to have Ellen Charlesworth speak to our students. She left Angmering Sixth Form in 2018 and is now a Senior Assistant Psychologist with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (NHS).

Ellen studied Biology, Chemistry and Geography A-levels, and decided to pursue a degree in Psychology at Sussex University because she had a growing interest in mental health and supporting people. She confirmed that A-level Psychology is not a requirement to study it at degree level, and the subjects she had taken gave her many transferable skills.

The degree course covered a wide range of topics, reflecting the many settings where Psychology is relevant including business, education and health. Research projects form a big part of the course and she enjoyed participating in those set by her peers, as well as setting them herself. In the third year of her degree Ellen did a placement with CAMHS East Sussex, working with SEN children. She found this really helpful in confirming that a clinical role would suit her. Her final year dissertation was looking at the impact on neurodivergent children of spending time in nature/outdoors.

CAMHS is the NHS service that assesses and treats young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties. Ellen’s job with CAMHS is about supporting their service development. This includes helping service-users complete assessments, symptom tracking and checking for consistency of delivery across the county. She enjoys being able to apply the principles she learned in her degree in a real-life situation, and says that the reflective skills required as a psychologist have been of benefit to her personally as well as professionally. Ellen finds it rewarding to see the difference that therapy and other interventions can have, to be able to support young people to engage better with education and to improve their quality of life.