School Psychologist

Remote

🎓 Education

School psychologists have to be up to dealing with nearly any psychological or behavioral issue a student might be facing. They lend their expertise to school staff members to give a better understanding of students’ behavior, as well as to parents to help maintain a supportive home environment. They may work from an office at district headquarters or on a school campus where they have been assigned. Some travel between campuses to work with different school populations and kids aged 5–18. A school psychologist may be the first point of contact between a troubled child and mental health care, or act as a casual support for children with relatively minor needs. On occasion, school psychologists may testify in court or write reports within the scope of their expertise and clinical scope.

What does a School Psychologist do?

A school psychologist provides practitioner-level mental health services for students enrolled in their school or district. Their duties include working one-on-one with school-age children, diagnosing mental health conditions and providing appropriate treatments, and working with families to meet children’s individual mental and emotional health needs.

Responsibilities

A School Psychologist should be able to fulfill various duties and responsibilities. The following are some duties and responsibilities a School Psychologist should be able to execute:

Creating a safe and accepting environment in which students feel comfortable expressing their needs
Keeping up with district and school policies, state and federal law and the needs of families for information sharing and confidentiality
Effectively communicating with students’ teachers, school staff, district administrators and children’s caregivers to meet children’s mental and emotional health needs
Keeping and updating HIPAA-compliant records containing privileged health information about minors
Learning and applying evidence-based diagnosis and treatment protocols in compliance with state licensing standards

Required Skills

A competitive School Psychologist will have certain skills and qualifications, including:

Compassion for the needs of children, including those with disturbed behavior and a history of trauma or other challenges
Organizational skills suitable for keeping records, which may be used as legal documents or for other official purposes
Skill at communicating with colleagues, district employees, families and children of all ages
The ability to travel, sometimes on short notice, to various campuses throughout the district, and to respond to emergencies outside of normal school hours

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