Beth Rutkowski
Roosevelt University
Title: The Practice of Clinical Psychology at a Pediatric Therapy Clinic in China
Biography
Biography: Beth Rutkowski
Abstract
LIH-Olivia’s Place is a Pediatric Therapy Clinic with various locations in China that provide multidisciplinary services for local and expatriate youth including psychological testing and therapy, speech and language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and learning support. LIH-Olivia’s Place has a unique position in China, having developed a best practice multidisciplinary model focussed on transferring skills from established best practice to mainland practitioners and local families.. As the clinic has grown over the past six years, LIH-Olivia’s Place has been able to gather a great deal of information about the individuals in China who seek these services, both English and Chinese speakers..
In mainland China, psychological services are underutilized and often misconstrued. However, LIH-Olivia’s Place has found that many families do seek help for their children with a range of concerns. Analysis of the data regarding individuals seeking psychological services at LIH-Olivia’s Place will offer an opportunity to answer questions about the expatriate and the local Chinese community taking these steps. Under what circumstances do parents elect to bring their children in for services? What problems do schools consider to be the most concerning? Are there trends in age or biological sex? What are the variations in circumstances for Chinese versus expatriate populations? This data is in the process of being analyzed to answer these questions and many more. Gaining a better understanding of the individuals who are seeking out psychological services also helps us understand those who are not. With this information, we can be better prepared to reach the populations who are still left unserved. We can also share the challenges of meeting best practice standards in psychology in a diverse clinic, based on the Mainland.