I am a psychologist in an educational setting; but do people know what I do?

McKenzie, V.L. (Vicki)
Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Level 6, 100 Leicester St., 3100, Carlton, Australia

 

Submission type

Oral only

Scheduled

Room 116, 10-07-2019, 13:30 - 15:00

Keywords

empowering children, empowering psychologists, advocacy, mental health and wellbeing

Summary

In the State of Victoria, Australia the profession of educational and school psychology is consistently undervalued due to aspects of structures in the health and education systems.  This paper will introduce participants to the specific professional structures in services to the Victorian community and look particularly at the school as an avenue to service delivery.  Specific disciplines within psychology have had ascendance as preferred service providers, and the professional bodies have contributed to this context.  However increasing mental health presentations challenge the services, particularly in the case of children and youth.  With revitalised interest in early intervention and prevention, the psychologists in educational contexts are perfectly placed in skills and experience to meet accelerating needs. Yet they are often overlooked, or seen as administers of tests, or their discipline is not familiar or well known.  The profession is challenged to search for new skills to build an advocacy program to enhance the knowledge of both the community and the referring professionals.  This paper elaborates on this situation and reports on the early stage of promoting the importance of advocacy to our profession. 

Auteurs