Richard Cobden

Specialist Mentor (MH and AS)

Having worked in Special Educational Needs as a teacher and in pastoral support roles for over 10 years, Richard has made inclusion the forefront of his work in education. He has experience of working intensively with NEET young people (young people not in education or training) by creating opportunities in alternative education in secondary/Post 16 education.

Richard wanted to develop his skill set in communicating with hard to reach young people by enrolling on a counselling qualification. He is just starting his second year of training.

Richard has a very holistic approach to support – having accessed AT support at university he understands that there can be a variety of barriers in accessing support effectively and some may not be overtly apparent. Richard believes in creating a warm and supportive relationship so that students can best communicate what they need.

Richard interests away from educational support include watching football (retired from playing – injury prone!), watching film and documentary (favourite all time film – Don’t Look Now), travelling (favourite places – Columbia and Vietnam) and cooking (mostly healthy!).