Dr. Jessica Abrams
PhD, CPsych
Psychologist
Dr. Jessica Abrams is registered as a school and clinical psychologist with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. She completed her undergraduate degree at Trinity College at the University of Toronto and her Ph.D. in Clinical-Developmental Psychology from York University. Dr. Abrams completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Hospital for Sick Children and her clinical training at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Oshawa Psychological and Counselling Services. Her previous experience includes working as a school psychologist with York Region District School Board and as an IBI/ABA therapist at Surrey Place Centre.
Currently, Dr. Abrams also works at the Durham Catholic District School Board, where she is the consulting psychologist with the Autism Resource Team. Dr. Abrams provides comprehensive psycho-educational assessment to children and adolescents with a range of academic, cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties to help guide educational and treatment planning and to help students gain a better understanding of how to use their strengths to help manage their challenges. Dr. Abrams provides individualized therapy to children with a range of presenting concerns including autism, inattention, hyperactivity, learning difficulties, academic problems, anxiety, depression, behavioural difficulties, self-regulation, bullying, social skills, and peer relations.
She has worked in the field of autism and developmental disabilities for over 15 years.
She has a particular interest in supporting mental health problems experienced by youth with autism spectrum disorders. She provides comprehensive autism assessments, including the use of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). She has extensive program evaluation experience and she has collaborated on several research studies and published numerous papers regarding cognitive and social information processing, mental health, and bullying experiences of youth with an autism spectrum disorder.
Dr. Abrams has previously taught at York University and the University of Toronto and she conducts several training workshops. She is a registered safeTALK (suicide alertness) trainer and she has completed additional training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for anxiety, insomnia, and depression, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), trauma and grief, autism assessment (ADI-R, ADOS-2, and CARS), intervention for selective mutism, PEERS and Friendship Lab social skills groups, Violent Threat and Risk Assessment (VTRA 1 & 2), high-conflict divorce, and ASIST (suicide intervention).