Staff Spotlight: Olaitan Olawande

In this newsletter issue, we’d like to take the opportunity to feature Olaitan Olawande, a Trainee Behaviour Analyst in PSG’s Hospital Discharge Service. Balancing scientific curiosity with a deep commitment to supporting young people, Olaitan brings a unique blend of passion, skill, and empathy to her work. Her career journey has taken her from Bangor University into Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), and now into a service where she works to ensure children and young people can remain in their communities, avoid prolonged hospital stays, and thrive in the right environments.

PSG: Can you tell us about your role and how you came to work in PSG’s Hospital Discharge Service?

After finishing at Bangor University, I moved into PBS work. Now at PSG, I’m part of the Hospital Discharge Service, supporting children and young people so they can live in the community rather than remain in hospital. Alongside this, I work in the Children in Care Resilience Service, helping children in care, with care experience, or on the edge of care. This means that I partner with families, foster carers, social workers, and wider networks to stabilise placements using positive behaviour science. It’s about building skills, developing coping strategies, and giving everyone – not just the young person – the tools they need to increase resilience.

PSG: What do you find most rewarding about your work?

It’s often about being able to advocate for young people in spaces where their voices might otherwise go unheard. For example, I might go into a multidisciplinary team meeting where the general view is that a young person is disengaged. But if I’ve built a strong rapport with them, I can help bring their perspective into that room – often showing that they are engaged, just in a different way than others expected. Being able to make sure their voice is heard is incredibly rewarding.

PSG: Co-production is a big focus for PSG. How do you involve young people in shaping their own support?

Collaboration is key. I work with young people to co-produce support plans and crisis response strategies. That means not coming in with ready-made answers but asking: What will help you most in moments when you’re struggling? How would you like people to speak to you when they first meet you, and during the course of our support process?

This gives them a real sense of empowerment and ownership over their own support.

PSG: You’ve mentioned cultural sensitivity as one of your values. What does that look like in practice?

Cultural sensitivity is about approaching every situation with curiosity and respect – and recognising that we as practitioners must do everything we can to understand the culture of the people we support, and more specifically, what this means in terms of how they would like us to support them.

– One thing I think is really important is: if you don’t know something, ask. Working for an organisation comprised of employees from many different countries and cultures, there are usually colleagues we can reach out to with specific expertise, and we can also learn directly from families by approaching them with humility and curiosity. Respecting culture is really about respecting the values that shape someone’s life, and that’s central to providing person-centred support.

PSG: Outside of your role, what drives your passion for this work?

I’m a multi-passionate person – I love learning and doing lots of different things, then finding overlaps between them. Using science to make positive change in people’s lives is something that connects all my interests. For me, it’s about finding ways to combine curiosity, empathy, and practical skills to create real impact.