Meet Nick

Nick Smith

Role

Specialist Occupational Therapist and Sensory Attachment Intervention Lead, Clinical Director

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Physical Education, PGDip Sensory Integration, MSc Occupational Therapy, CSAccred (AAC), MRCOT

Memberships

HCPC Number: OT66880
BAOT Number: BT081073

Special Interests

Sensory Integration
Sensory Attachment Intervention
Assessment and treatment of motor skills and their influence on daily life

What I do at Juniper Tree Therapy

I have experience working with children and adolescents with a wide range of different needs, including Sensory Processing difficulties, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Trauma. I have worked across a range of different settings, including nurseries, schools, residential homes, Child Development Centres, and family’s own homes. I enjoy being able to adapt the assessment and intervention process in the most useful way for each client I work with, depending on their individual circumstances.

I am involved in researching Sensory Attachment Intervention procedures and outcomes and have presented these at conferences. I am on the Sensory Attachment Intervention Education and Training Team, delivering training to Professionals across the United Kingdom and internationally.

About me

My journey into Occupational Therapy following my first degree in Physical Education. I became interested in the impact that movement and physical activity could have on children’s lifestyles, mental wellbeing, social development, and self-esteem, as well as their physical development. I then trained as an Occupational Therapist, leading me to work with children and Young People with a range of physical and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Training

I am an Advanced Sensory Integration Therapist, and Advanced Sensory Attachment Intervention Therapist, and use both of these approaches to inform my Occupational Therapy practice across the settings that I work within.

I have also trained in relationship and interaction-based approaches, including Theraplay® Informed Practice1, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Informed Practice (‘DDP’), Video Interactive Guidance, and Attachment Lead in Schools Training (Louise Michelle Bomber). I am a reliable coder in a number of attachment assessments, including the MIM method, D-EIS (Dyadic Emotional Interaction Style) Scoring, and the Child Attachment and Play Assessment (CAPA).

Testimonials for Nick

"Juniper Tree is an excellent resource. Nick's knowledge of both attachment and trauma alongside the sensory integration work means he can cover all bases and give a deep understanding of a child's presentation to workers and carers. His empathy and calm manner means he can support people and really help carers who are experiencing quite difficult circumstances manage very complex behaviours."

"As a speech and language therapist working with individuals with complex needs, it is difficult to find highly trained specialists in the area of sensory integration - we've definitely found that in Juniper Tree Therapy. It has been wonderful working together with the joint aim of empowering staff to build communication into OT activities and vice versa. The difference to children's access to activities, learning and interaction speaks for itself and we continue to learn so much from Emma and Nick."

"I cannot emphasise enough how much we value Nick and Juniper Tree's input for the children and families we support. His support has kept complex children out of residential care and in foster care and schools find his work invaluable."

"Most importantly the children have all had positive experiences of working with Nick and Emma and have been open to the intervention despite generally carrying huge mistrust of adults. Foster carers and residential staff have all spoken positively of their engagement with the service and found the intervention of immense benefit to both the adults and children. I would highly recommend Juniper Tree Therapy for its comprehensive understanding of trauma, attachment and occupational therapy needs of children in care."