Psychologist (PhD) - Developmental Pediatrics

JOB SUMMARY

The Psychologist – Developmental Pediatrics (PhD is responsible for providing specialist psychological intakes, behavioral assessments, and interventions for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders in the Outpatient Clinic. The incumbent is responsible for providing comprehensive psychological assessment and psychological/ psychoeducational/ neuropsychological testing, and for formulating/ implementing a formal psychological treatment plan for the patients. The incumbent is also responsible for providing specialist psychological advice, guidance, and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan.

KEY ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Composes comprehensive written reports of psychological and behavioral assessments.
• Review’s relevant school and/or other medical records to understand cases better.
• Communicates directly with schools and school staff, when applicable and with parental written consent for school input.
• Familiarizes with various different educational systems that are available in Qatar, the public and private school and healthcare system, and the local community resources, so as to be in a position to counsel parents on appropriate educational placement, accessing therapy interventions and ability-friendly programs based on the outcome of the child’s diagnostic assessments that were completed by MDT or doctoral-level clinical psychologist.
• Provides specialized clinical psychological input to the families, including parent counseling on parenting strategies and behavioral management of children with neurodevelopmental disorders that is evidence-based.
• Offers evidence-based psychological treatments to children or adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and co-morbid psychological problems such as Anxiety (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
• Provides group therapy interventions for children and families, such as social skills training for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and group parent education programs for parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• Is certified or willing to seek certification in the implementation of social-interaction focused/play-based therapy interventions for children/adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as those focused on the development of functional emotional developmental capacities (e.g., DIRFloortime®).
• Provides specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan. Works as a collaborative member of a multi-disciplinary team that comprises physicians, psychologists, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and nurses. Engages in peer consultation and multidisciplinary meetings in order to improve clinical care and to maintain ongoing professional standards.
• Keeps abreast with current literature, talks with colleagues, and participates in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in clinical psychology, counselling, developmental psychology, and neuropsychology.
• Provides clinical supervision, based on scope and experience, to improve clinical skills and professional development of students, trainees, and early career colleagues.
• Provides psychological services (e.g., assessment, intervention, consultation) with cultural competence appropriate to a wide variety of ethnic, linguistic, and religious populations.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Education

Doctoral degree (Ph.D., or PsyD, or DClinPsych) in Clinical Psychology.

Clinical Training

Three years of supervised clinical work experience and/or a total of 4000 hours of supervised clinical experience (whichever applies) are required as part of pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training.

Experience

• 5+ years’ experience as a practicing Licensed Clinical Psychologist, inclusive of 3+ years in a job position fully or partly dedicated to working with children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• Experienced and certified in the use of clinical diagnostic tools such as ADOS-2, ADI-R, CARS-2.