University of Prince Edward Island

Contact Information:
City: 550 University Ave.
State: Please Select…
Zip+4: C1A 4P3
Country: Canada

Primary Contact:
Jessica Strong, Ph.D.
jvstrong@upei.ca

Geropsychology Supervisor(s):
Jessica Strong, Ph.D.

Website Address: 
https://www.upei.ca/programs/doctor-of-psychology

Stage of Training:
PreDoctoral Graduate Training

Membership / Certification: 

CPA and APA Accredited
APPIC Member

Training Program Components: 
Dr. Strong joined the faculty at the CPA accredited PsyD program at UPEI in 2019. Since that time, she provided supervision to first and second year graduate students providing assessment (cognitive and psychodiagnostic) and psychotherapy (group and individual) to older adults within our on-campus psychology training clinic. In 2021, Dr. Strong established one of the PsyD program’s first external practicum placements for 3rd and 4th year graduate students within the Provincial Geriatrics Program, under the provincial Health PEI. The PsyD students (including students across years of training under supervision of Dr. Strong) and Geriatrics team members meet monthly in interdisciplinary team meetings to discuss patients, and determine recommendations and treatment plan from a whole-person perspective. We do regular co-appointments with patients and Nurse Practitioners or Geriatricians following our team meetings.  This is fully in line with the goals of the UPEI PsyD program in community integration and social justice (older adults being a marginalized population) as well as in line with recent provincial goals to increase access of interdisciplinary care for older adults on PEI. This practicum placement increases students’ skill set across competencies of geropsychology practice, including assessment, intervention, and consultation. The most advanced students on the team will have the opportunity to work with the home-based program of the Geriatrics Program (COACH-Caring for Older Adults in the Community and at Home), allowing them to experience provision of care to older adults and their families across settings, including outpatient primary care, outpatient mental health, and in-home, during their placement.

Didactic Training Offerings: 
Dr. Strong, as the primary geropsychologist in the clinical faculty, teaches courses to the graduate students that include Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behaviour, and Quantitative Research Methods. She regularly guest lectures for Advanced Psychopathology across the Lifespan on disorders in late life. In these courses and guest lectures, she infuses her teaching with theories of gerontology, article readings including older adult populations, and hands on practice administering cognitive and affective measures for individuals across the lifespan. In this way, her presence contributes to normalizing clinical psychologists’ work with an aging population as well as to training students who are competent to work with older adults in their future clinical practice and recognize when they need to refer to specialty training clinical geropsychologists.