Beyond Labels: A Child Psychologist's Perspective on Helping Kids

For more than 30 years, Dr. Peter Stanley worked as a child psychologist, teacher, academic, police officer, and probation officer. In this conversation, he reflects on the biggest lessons from a lifetime of helping children and families with their behaviours and mental health challenges. We explore why he believes psychologists should always be "working for the child," why he moved away from an expert-driven model of psychology, and why he holds differing views about diagnosis and labels. Whether you're a psychologist, teacher, parent, or simply interested in mental health, this conversation will challenge many assumptions about how we understand children's behaviour and how meaningful change actually happens. In this episode we discuss: Dr. Stanley's journey into psychology Why psychologists should always work for the child The evolution of educational psychology Inclusion vs exclusion in schools Diagnosis The importance of parenting and relationships Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Incredible Years parenting programmes Lessons from over three decades in psychology Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.