Judy Hutchings has lived in Wales for 33 years and has been a clinical psychologist for the last 30 of them, during which time she has worked in the north west of the country with children with behavioral problems and their families. In 2004 she was voted Welsh Woman Educator of the Year Award in a scheme sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government.

In 2003 she was shortlisted as a finalist in the same awards, in the category Woman as Entrepreneur, for establishing The Incredible Years Centre. A year later she was awarded the title 'Welsh Woman as Educator of the Year" for her remarkable work with children with behavioral problems and their families as well as for setting up The Incredible Years Centre to promote evidence based work through training, research and consultation.

Her work has received much attention in UK since the Incredible Years program was combined with the Government's flagship Sure Start program, and appears to be successful whereas in England, a more laissez-faire approach to service design and less rigorous evaluation has produced at best mixed results.