Psychology at Third Academy

The psychology team at Third Academy provides a comprehensive range of counselling, therapy, and assessment services. Our experienced diverse team of Registered Psychologists, interns, and trainees deliver services on site to all Third Academy students.

Individual Counselling

The counselling team provides individual counselling for most Third Academy students. We support students to deal with aftereffects of trauma, aggression, anger issues, anxiety, attention issues, conduct problems, depression, oppositional behavior, and many other problems. Our daily presence on site whenever school is in session enables us to be on hand for crises to help students develop and practice their skills for managing their behavior in the moment.

Parents, if you would like your child to have individual counselling from the Third Academy team, please contact your principal. If you would like us to liaise with your child’s community therapist, would like us to share information with another professional or organization, or if you have questions about how counselling services are delivered, please contact David Sereda.

Family Counselling

Family counselling can address issues such as child management and discipline strategies, co-parenting (either between parents living under the same roof or between separated or divorced parents), parent stress, sibling conflict, etc.

A limited number of family counselling spaces are available upon request. Dr. Chang provides family counselling in collaboration with your child’s primary counsellor and will prioritize family counselling sessions as his schedule allows. If you would like to explore family counselling, please contact your child’s primary counsellor.

Psychoeducational Assessment

A psychoeducational assessment evaluates how one’s cognitive abilities, academic skills, and social-emotional makeup affects learning. We identify strengths and weakness in a student’s learning profile and describe how diverse abilities can be harnessed, improved, or worked around. A completed assessment documents a diagnosis to support Alberta Education special education coding. A psychoeducational assessment typically includes:

• • interviews with parents, teachers, and in some cases, the student;
  • review of report cards, individual program plans, and previous assessment reports;
  • four to six hours of testing (i.e., cognitive abilities, academic achievement);
  • questionnaires and rating scales completed by teachers, parents, and the young person
  • a feedback meeting, describing the assessment results and recommendations
    and, a detailed written report.

The psychology team provides psychoeducational assessments to Third Academy students on a three- to four-year rotation, starting either at the time of initial registration in the school, or three to four years after their latest assessment. Your principal will identify the need for an assessment and a member of our administrative team will contact the parent or guardian to obtain their consent.