Research Project Clinician | PEACHY

at  UPMC

The Reserarch Project Clinician will be supporting the newly funded 5-year NIH grant examining training parents to effectively encourage and coach child positive emotions and behavior. The study will focus on the influence of parent coaching on child neural activity in a sample of 4- to 6-year-old young children. The project (‘Parent Encouragement And Coaching of Happiness in Youth”, PEACHY) will be conducted under the joint supervision of Dr. Judith Morgan and Dr. Lauren Bylsma in the Department of Psychiatry.
The Research Project Clinician (RPC) will be trained in evidence-based parent management training techniques and will serve as a parent trainer to study families. The RPC will meet with each study family weekly for about three weeks to provide the parent training. The RPC will also help oversee junior clinicians in training (i.e., graduate level externs) to learn and implement the parent training techniques.

• Attend and actively participate in weekly therapist supervision meetings.
• Share on-call coverage via pager service for patients treated through study protocols as needed
• Complete documentation related to research assessments, treatment plans, session notes and transfer summaries for patients.
• Diagnose and coordinate appropriate dispositions for potential subjects for research studies.
• Present findings of clinical assessment to supervising clinicians.
• Use clinical judgment as needed when research subjects need referrals. Ability to assess potential emergencies with collaboration with senior personnel, take appropriate action.
• Conduct informed consent procedures for subjects entering study protocols.
• Conduct psychiatric telephone screen evaluations with potentially eligible subjects as needed.
• Conduct clinical or research-designed therapy with patients.
• Conduct psychiatric evaluations and structured psychiatric interviews needed to make psychiatric diagnosis.
• Work as part of interdisciplinary treatment team to maintain protocol standards and ensure patient safety.
• Travel to clinical settings in Pittsburgh area as needed to recruit, assess, and treat subjects in study protocols.
• Masters Degree in Social Work, Arts/Sciences in Psychology, or related field required.
• Three years of postgraduate clinician experience in interviewing, counseling, and assessment required.
• Experience working with children and families preferred.
• Experience with parent management therapy preferred.
• Prior Training in structured diagnostic clinical interviews preferred.
• Computer and word processing skills required.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of DSM-IV required.