Psychoeducator

The position of psychoeducator encompasses, in particular, responsibility for carrying out prevention and screening activities, providing assistance and guidance as well as evaluating the adaptation difficulties and adaptive skills of students experiencing or likely to experience social maladjustments and determining a psychoeducational intervention plan and its implementation in order to create conditions to foster the student's optimal adaptation, restore and develop his or her adaptive skills and autonomy in interaction with his or her environment. He or she provides advice and support to school resources and parents.

• The psychoeducator participates in developing and implementing a psychoeducational service that meets the academic and administrative requirements of both the educational institutions and the school board.
• He or she contributes to the screening and identification of students experiencing problems, using an approach focussing on prevention and intervention; he or she plans and conducts evaluations of students' adaptation difficulties and adaptive skills, including students with handicaps or social maladjustments and students suffering from a mental or neuropsychological disorder attested to by a diagnosis or an evaluation conducted by qualified personnel in order to determine the student’s overall functioning and psychosocial needs; he or she gathers pertinent information from school or external resources and parents, selects and uses appropriate tests, conducts interviews, makes observations and analyzes data, as part of the individualized education plan, to meet the student's needs.
• He or she works with a multidisciplinary team to draw up and review a student's individualized education plan by including his or her action plan in the plan, if necessary; he or she participates in defining intervention objectives and means; he or she works with other team members to ensure concerted and coordinated interventions and assess the achievement of objectives.
• He or she works with teachers to develop and implement strategies and projects aimed at helping students who are experiencing or who are likely to experience social maladjustments.
• He or she provides assistance and advice to school resources and parents of students with social maladjustments; he or she recommends strategies for working with the students and guides them in adopting attitudes and approaches focussing on the development of desirable social behaviours and coping skills; he or she plans, organizes and conducts training activities.
• He or she plans, organizes and conducts, in conjunction with other school or external resources, activities with classes or groups of students experiencing common difficulties or specific problems.
• He or she designs, adapts or prepares materials based on the needs and abilities of students experiencing social maladjustments.
• He or she advises management staff, prepares expertise, evaluation, briefing and progress reports and formulates appropriate recommendations to support decision making.
• He or she provides advice and support to school resources in matters pertaining to the integration of students into regular classes and proposes appropriate intervention means or activities for students.
• He or she establishes and maintains relationships and collaboration with partner organizations; he or she contacts the other resources concerned to obtain or give advice and information; he or she may refer the student or his or her parents to resources appropriate to the situation and needs.
• He or she may be called upon to help defuse crisis or emergency situations and to propose solutions.
• He or she prepares and updates files according to the standards related to the practice of the profession and the rules defined by the school board; he or she prepares progress notes or reports as well as end-of-process and follow-up reports on his or her interventions.

• Be a member of the Ordre des psychoéducateurs et psychoéducatrices du Québec.