PhD-project
I am a PhD student at the Department of Psychology, but I am employed at the Oslo University Hospital, where I am affiliated with two national competence units:
- Norwegian centre of competence for intellectual disabilities and mental health
- NevSom Norwegian centre of neurodevelopmental disorders and hypersomnias
I also work 50% as a clinician at the outpatient clinic at the Regional section mental health, intellectual disabilties/autism, Oslo University Hospital.
Project background
I have worked in mental health services for individuals with intellectual disabilities and/or autism for several years. My PhD project was conceived following a frequent challenge in the clinic:
- How do we detect trauma and abuse when people do not have the verbal skills to disclose it?
- And when we know they have experienced something potentially traumatic - how do we understand if they have been harmed by it?
The project is about detecting and identifying post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related symptoms in adults with co-occurring autism and intellectual disabilities: "Identification of post-traumatic stress disorder in adults with autism and intellectual disability".
Supervisors are PhD/Specialist Psychologist Sissel Berge Helverschou and Associate Professor Hanne Weie Oddli. The project is funded by Oslo University Hospital.
Academic interests
Mental health in individuals with autism and/or intellectual disabilities: understanding, assessment and treatment. I have a strong interest in clinical research, in particular how clinicians' knowledge and understanding is shaped also by the clients and patients they encounter.
Background
Psychologist from the University of Oslo, 2009. Specialist in Clinical Psychology from 2014.
Have worked most of the time since 2009 in the Regional Section Mental Health, Intellectual Disabilities/Autism, Oslo University Hospital, but also at the Child Habilitation Services, Akershus University Hospital, and elsewhere in mental health services for adults.