Dr. Monica DuMont

Dr.DuMont is a licensed Clinical Psychologist who has had experience working with a variety of populations over the last 20 years. In her early training she volunteered to learn about testing for learning disabilities and used that knowledge to assist students in a lifelong plan to manage both intermediate education and higher education.

 

She completed two practicum’s, one in a special education setting and one in juvenile court. She then realized that she had a passion for working with children and families. During her internship she worked at Tr-City and Enki Youth and family — both programs that assisted in serving medi-cal based families with a variety of difficulties. During that time it further ignited her passion and empathy for both low income issues and hardships of families raising difficult children.  Homes that were struggling due to behavioral disorders, and in some cases, a comorbidity of learning disorders, filled her practice.

 

Over the next 10 years she specialized in working with children and families using a combination of Cognitive-Behavior and Family Approaches, recognized in the treatment of negative behaviors that included lying, stealing, disruptive behaviors, tantrums, depressed mood, anxiety, and learning disorders. During that time she also worked with adults and parents on a variety of personal issues. She was later asked to run a program for children sent to live in Residential Placements due to her expertise in working with children and families.

 

For the next 3 years, she passionately developed a program aimed at assisting children that were hard to place in the foster system due to behaviorally driven issues. She continues to work with that program providing assessments and consultation to treatment of more difficult behaviors in children, as well as conduct psychological assessments to confirm diagnosis. She can then make recommendations to treatment teams to ensure that children and families can manage difficult behaviors, and eventually be returned to their families or find an appropriate foster placement.

 

Over the last 20 years she have also worked with Victims of Crime (VOC) and was eventually asked to supervise 15 unlicensed interns. The growth and development of the staff she train to work with children, families and individuals continues to be her passion, although at a much lower scale. She is committed to the practice and treatment for various clinical issues and stays informed of upcoming changes in her field by continuing to train others through supervision, and through teaching at an Orange County Graduate Program.