Private Practice in association with:    

                        De Wet & Doucette Psychological Services - Canmore

                        Intrahealth Clinic- Calgary

Registered by College of Alberta Psychologists: Registration # 2300

 General services :

Provision of a full spectrum of clinical psychological services, which include individual, couple and group/family assessment and psychotherapy. Methodology is mainly cognitive - behavioral, with a strong accent on eclecticism. Recently Dr. de Wet also returned to a former field of passion. Experiential and dynamic relational therapy.

 Areas of specialty include: children’s assessment and clinical interventions with children (including play therapy and custody issues), adult assessment and adult problems, bereavement and grief work, the treatment of depression, chronic pain syndrome, anxiety and burnout, hypnosis, marital therapy, abuse issues, cross-cultural and aboriginal issues, working with offenders, organizational development work with individuals and groups, and contracted service provider for various Employment Assistance Programs. Dr. de Wet is one of the foremost experts in Canada on Critical Incident Stress Debriefing.

Assessment:

An important area of expertise for many clinical psychologists is psychological assessment, and there are indications that as many as 91% of psychologists engage in this core clinical practice. Such evaluation is usually done in service to gaining insight into and forming hypotheses about psychological or behavioral problems. As such, the results of such assessments are usually used to create generalized impressions rather than diagnoses.

There exists literally hundreds of various assessment tools, although only a few have been shown to have both high validity (i.e., test actually measures what it claims to measure) and reliability (i.e., test is consistent—internally, over time, and regardless of administrator). These measures generally fall within one of several categories, including the following:

Intelligence & achievement tests. 
These tests are designed to measure certain specific kinds of cognitive functioning (often referred to as IQ) in comparison to a norming-group. Commonly used today are the Weschler tests (the WAIS-III for adults, the WISC-IV for children, and the WIAT-II achievement test), the Woodcock-Johnson-III, and the Stanford-Binet-5. These tests generally measure areas such as verbal skills (e.g. comprehension and vocabulary), memory (short and long term), attention span, arithmetic, and non-verbal performance (e.g. visual/spacial perception, hand-eye coordination, problem solving, and logical reasoning). These tests have been shown to accurately predict certain kinds of performance, especially scholastic.

Personality tests. 
Tests of personality aim to describe characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings that remain relatively stable throughout a person's lifetime. They generally fall within two categories: objective (offering restricted, measured responses, such as yes/no, true/false, or a rating scale) and projective (which allow a person to respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing non-conscious psychological dynamics). Typical objective tests used today are the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III, and the California Psychological Inventory. Common projective tests include the Rorschach inkblot test and the Thematic Apperception Test. 

Neuropsychological tests. 
Neuropsychological tests consist of specifically designed tasks used to measure psychological functions known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. They are typically used to assess impairment after an injury or illness known to affect neurocognitive functioning, or when used in research, to contrast neuropsychological abilities across experimental groups. Examples include the Stroop test, the Bender-Gestalt Test, the Trail Making task, and finger tapping. 

Clinical observation. 
The clinical interview is at the heart of psychological interventions and is a vital part of assessment, even when using other formalized tools, which can employ either a structured or unstructured format. Such assessment looks at certain areas, such as general appearance and behavior, mood and affect, perception, comprehension, orientation, insight, memory, and content of communication. One common example of a formal interview is the mental status examination, which is often used as a screening tool for treatment or further testing.

Psychotherapy:

The art and science of psychotherapy in especially individual and relationship context has been practiced by Dr. de Wet for 21 years. If you are serious about effecting change in your life and are willing to work at it, then you are welcome to contact Dr. de Wet for help.