Hosted by SISP student committee, McGill University
& Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
Doris Páez, Ph.D., NCSP
McGill Summer Institute for School Psychology
Dr. Doris Páez currently serves as an inpatient and outpatient psychologist at Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She has over 30 years of experience with psychological and psychoeducational services for children, adolescents, young adults, adults and families. She is fluent in Spanish and holds unique credentials as a trained bilingual psychologist. Dr. Páez also counts with extensive work experiences in higher education, public education, government, non-profit and healthcare sectors. Her credentials include a B.A (Psychology), M.A (Behavioral Sciences & Education) and Ed.S. (School Psychology) from the University of South Florida, as well as a Ph.D. (School Psychology) from the University of Florida. She completed a pre-doctoral psychology internship in rehabilitation psychology and two post-doctoral psychology residencies in emotional disorders and developmental pediatrics. Dr. Páez is a graduate of the prestigious Liberty Fellowship, a two-year, Aspen Institute inspired training program for leaders in the state of South Carolina. She is a licensed South Carolina psychologist since 2000 and a nationally certified school psychologist since 1987. Dr. Paez is the author of over 200 publications and has presented at over 800 local, state and national events, including conference keynote and commencement addresses. She is a recipient of several service awards, including the National Association of School Psychologists’ Presidential Award. She is the mother of two adult children who are pursuing careers in the Arts.
Brief Synopsis
In this workshop, a clinical and practical approach is presented for creating solutions that meet the contemporary mental health, culture and schooling needs of children that are culturally, linguistically, economically or behaviorally divergent from any dominant societal group (e.g., mainstream, majority, majority-minority, growing minority, marginalized or normative groups). The impact of diverse children’s “fit” with instructional settings, intervention strategies, or significant adults (e.g., teachers, therapists, medical personnel, guardians, parents, family members, coaches, etc.) on their mental health and academic achievement will be explored. Case studies, that highlight culturally attentive modifications to typical psychological prevention, evaluation and intervention strategies for unique groups of children, including those who are multiple language learners, racially and ethnically diverse, have severe mental health issues, and diverse gender identities, will be interactively reviewed. Suggestions will be offered for how psychologists can evolve their current practices so that they can simultaneously serve as diagnosis detectives, intervention consultants, teachers and advocates
Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Learn a unique clinical approach for providing prevention, evaluation and intervention services for children who do not fit with majority society.
- Understand how a consumer focus, detective mindset and personal culture framework can guide psychological practices.
- Generate solutions for meeting the mental health, culture and schooling needs of diverse groups of children.
- Build teaching and advocacy functions into existing psychological services.
Tuesday, May 25th: 1pm - 4pm