Former Christ Church Grammar school psychologist Agni Angelkovska suspended for 2014 attack on autistic child

A former Perth private school psychologist who has since worked with a Geraldton not-for-profit group has been professionally reprimanded after she “lost the plot” and threw a cup of water at an autistic student. Following a high-profile trial in 2018, Agni Angelkovska was fined $2000 after she was convicted of assaulting the 12-year-old boy with the water during an incident at Christ Church Grammar School in November 2014. However, Angelkovska, who was then the director of psychological and counselling services at the prestigious Claremont school, was cleared of allegations she slapped the boy with his own hand during a struggle, and was awarded $12,000 in costs. Eight years later, Angelkovska last week settled in disciplinary proceedings with the Psychology Board of Australia, resulting in the State Administrative Tribunal finding her behaviour amounted to professional misconduct. She was suspended from practising for three months. Conditions were also imposed on Angelkovska’s registration which forces her to complete education, as well as a “reflective practice report”, relating to “managing child clients with complex presentations” such as autism. That education program will also involve acceptable use of restraint, anger management, communication skills and the Australian Psychology Society’s code of ethics. After her employment at Christ Church ended in 2019, Angelkovska started consulting with The Abrolhos Group — a Geraldton not-for-profit organisation which provides support for children with learning and behavioural difficulties. Group founder Dr Kim Pedlow said Angelkovska was an “excellent professional” who had done a “world of good” in Geraldton, and was “well-thought of” in local healthcare and education spaces. Dr Pedlow said he hoped Angelkovska would continue working in Geraldton in the future. During the trial, witnesses recounted how the Perth incident happened after the boy had a “meltdown” in the schoolyard, which involved him throwing witches hats and lashing out at his education assistant. Four staff members then carried the boy to a sensory room where he threw water from a cup on the ground. A magistrate found Angelkovska then “inflamed” the situation, saying that his behaviour would not be tolerated in the senior school and that the Year 12 boys would “pummel him”. As the boy started throwing objects, including towards Angelkovska, she told him: “Throw it at me and I will throw it at you”, and “if you hit me, I will hit you harder”. Angelkovska then grabbed hold of the boy’s hands and climbed on top of him to restrain him. She threw a cup of water at him, hitting him in the face and chest. The senior psychologist then used her hands over the top of the boy’s to force him to pick up items he had thrown on the floor. Sentencing Angelkovska in 2018, Magistrate David MacLean described her as “someone who had been in a protracted struggle with (the boy) and during the course of the struggle simply lost the plot”. In its findings, the SAT said Angelkovska “failed to observe appropriate boundaries in her interactions and communications with (the boy) that accord with legal, professional and ethical standards” . It was also found that she failed to make decisions “consistent with safe psychological practice” and failed to observe appropriate boundaries and did not obtain consent prior to using procedures that involved physical contact or restraint. However, in mitigation, the Psychology Board accepted Angelkovska found herself in a “complex and difficult” situation. “It was a situation which arose in her work at a school and was not a situation which would normally arise in the context of a private psychological practice,” the judgment said. “She has learnt a considerable amount from the situation and has reflected considerably . . . she acknowledges that she could and should have handled the situation differently and would . . . should she be faced with a similar situation again.” Angelkovska has not been involved in any other incident since the 2014 assault.