North Carolina Psychological Association (NCPA)/24th Psychology Undergraduate Conference (Fall 2017)/Child/Adolescent/Pediatric

Speaker: Sandra Wartski, Psy.D.

A Typical Day Various Setting a Child Psychologist may practice Important things to consider Pros Cons Money
 * writing case notes
 * meeting families
 * therapy with kids
 * communicating with teachers, parents and pediatricians
 * testing
 * note: every day is a little different
 * Private Practice
 * Juvenile Detention Centers
 * Hospitals
 * Schools
 * Need to learn to compartmentalize in order to not bring home sad stories and hard cases
 * Set boundaries for what times you are in the office and what times are family time
 * don't schedule late nights back to back, family or self time is important in not getting burnt out
 * working with people
 * often see progress in kids
 * flexibility of your schedule, especially in private practice
 * combines both assessment and therapy
 * always intellectually challenging
 * results may not always be recognized
 * untraditional and unpredictable because no salary
 * get paid for seeing patients
 * first years is tough to gain client base
 * build rapport with local pediatricians
 * do good work
 * averages between 60,000-80,000

Speaker: Karen Kirk, PhD
 * Has Private Practice
 * Licensed Child/ Adolescent Psychologist
 * Some jobs will need only BA/BS degree, but most will offer more with graduate level degree
 * There are many career options for working with children and adolescents
 * Individual or group counseling or therapy
 * family counseling / therapy
 * in home support teams
 * developmental therapy for young children
 * testing and evaluation
 * Working with children and adolescents occurs in different settings:
 * clinics (large or small)
 * psychiatric hospitals
 * residential treatment facilities
 * homes - foster homes/ facilities
 * schools
 * community-based
 * Chance of working with adults when working with children and adolescents because they come with a caregiver
 * To prepare for work with pediatric/teen population: LEARN everything about CHILD DEVELOPMENT (physical, neurological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral)
 * Downsides to working with children:
 * They are young for a long time, so they may need your services off and on for yours
 * Other problem is related to school systems, as educational and clinical diagnoses can be interpreted differently
 * Differences between clinical and counseling work
 * Clinical: involves more research and being more involved in psychological disorders and works with patients who have more serious disorders
 * Counseling: counselors give advice and does not typically work with patients who have serious disorders
 * Pediatric: similar to children and adolescent work, but is more medical related
 * Occupational therapy: different from physical therapy, in that occupational therapy treats patients whose motor skills are relatively weaker than those of the normal population
 * Different approaches you can take as a clinician: behavioral, cognitive, unconscious, evolutionary, Gestalt, existential
 * School psychology focuses on working with children whereas education psychology involves researching on how to improve the school