SAMEH HASSAN GABARIN

General psychiatry consultations, assessment, and treatment. Special interest in assessment and treatment of PTSD, addictions, mood disorders, psychotic disorders and anxiety spectrum disorders.

• Clinical Assessment: Conduct thorough psychiatric evaluations to diagnose mental health conditions, considering both psychological and physical aspects of patients' health. This often involves detailed interviews, mental status examinations, and collaboration with other healthcare professionals for comprehensive assessments.
• Treatment Planning: Develop individualized treatment plans based on patients' diagnoses, needs, and preferences. This includes considering a range of therapeutic options such as medication, psychotherapy, lifestyle changes, and other non-pharmacological interventions.
• Medication Management: Prescribe and manage psychiatric medications, monitor patients' responses to these medications, adjust dosages as necessary, and manage any side effects. This also involves educating patients about their medications, expected effects, and potential side effects.
• Psychotherapy: Provide various forms of psychotherapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, family counseling, and couple counseling.
• Crisis Intervention: Offer immediate support and intervention for patients experiencing acute psychiatric crises, such as severe depression, suicidal ideation, or psychosis, to stabilize their condition and prevent harm.
• Patient Education: Educate patients and their families about mental health conditions, treatment options, coping strategies, and importance of adherence to treatment plans.
• Coordination of Care: Work collaboratively with other healthcare professionals, such as primary care physicians, psychologists, social workers, and nurses, to ensure a comprehensive and integrated approach to patient care.
• Continuous Learning: Stay updated with latest advancements in psychiatry, including new treatment modalities, research findings, and best practices, to provide evidence-based care to patients.
• Documentation and Record Keeping: Maintain accurate and confidential patient records, documenting all assessments, treatment plans, clinical notes, and interactions with patients and other healthcare providers.
• Ethical Practice and Confidentiality: Adhere to ethical principles and guidelines in psychiatry, ensuring patient confidentiality, informed consent, and respect for patients' rights.

• Offering Expert Advice: Deliver specialized psychiatric consultations to Ontario physicians, addressing case-specific inquiries, guiding diagnosis, management, and treatment of diverse mental health conditions.
• Case Consultation: Review specific patient cases presented by family doctors, offering recommendations on treatment plans, medication management, and appropriate referral options when specialized care is needed.
• Educational Support: Educate and update family doctors on latest psychiatric research, treatment modalities, and best practices in mental health care to enhance their competency in managing mental health issues within primary care setting.
• Medication Management Guidance: Provide guidance on psychotropic medication selection, dosing, monitoring, and potential side effects, assisting family doctors in safe and effective medication management for their patients.
• Risk Assessment Assistance: Assist family doctors in assessing and managing risk in patients with mental health issues, including suicide risk assessment, and advise on appropriate safety planning and interventions.

• Evaluating Candidates: Assessed candidates' performance on licensing examinations, which included written submissions, oral exams, and clinical skills assessments, to determine their competence in the field.
• Maintaining Standards: Participated in ensuring examination process maintained high standards of fairness and objectivity, and that it reflected current practices and knowledge.
• Providing Feedback: Offered constructive feedback to candidates, particularly in context of clinical skill assessments, to facilitate their understanding of areas requiring improvement.
• Program Development and Quality Assurance: Participated in annual Assessor Group training seminars, reviewing and redeveloping examination processes and content to ensure validity, reliability, and relevance of assessments in evaluating competence.
• Collaboration: Worked collaboratively with other examiners and RCPSC staff to develop and refine examination materials and procedures.
• Advisory Role: Provided insights and recommendations to RCPSC based on examination outcomes to inform policy decisions, licensure standards, and educational needs.

• Conducting Assessments: Performed comprehensive evaluations of Ontario Psychiatrists' practices to ensure they met regulatory standards and guidelines set by OCPS. This included reviewing clinical records, interviewing doctor being assessed, and appraising overall practice environment.
• Ensuring Compliance: Verified that psychiatrist adhered to medical profession's ethical, legal, and professional standards.
• Providing Feedback: Offered constructive feedback to psychiatrists based on assessment findings, highlighting areas of excellence as well as opportunities for improvement to enhance their practice and patient care.
• Recommending Educational Resources: Suggested resources and educational opportunities to psychiatrists to address any identified gaps in knowledge or skills and to promote continuous professional development.
• Report Writing: Prepared detailed assessment reports summarizing findings, observations, and recommendations, and submitted these reports to OCPS for review.
• Quality Improvement: Participated in development and implementation of quality improvement initiatives based on trends observed during assessments, aiming to enhance overall standard of care provided by psychiatrists.

Four mental health training and service providing missions to Gaza and the West Bank, funded by CIDA (Government of Canada), and administered by Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation, a Canadian NGO that was dedicated to mental health support in Palestine. Our local partners were Gaza Community Mental Health Program in Gaza and Palestinian Counseling Center in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

• Capacity Building: Trained healthcare providers and volunteers in mental health care principles, including needs assessment, clinical identification, management principles, counseling skills, psychotherapeutic techniques, crisis intervention, and community programming.
• Needs Assessment: Conducted assessments to identify specific mental health needs of the community, considering living conditions and societal restrains imposed by the occupation, prevalence of mental health disorders, especially PTSD, limitations of healthcare infrastructure, and impact of economic and environmental stressors.
• Service Development: Contributed to design and rollout of community-centric mental health services, facilitating establishment of mental health centers, mobile clinics, and support groups to meet local needs effectively.
• Awareness and Stigma Reduction: Conducted community outreach programs to raise awareness about mental health, reduce stigma associated with mental health disorders, and promote mental well-being.
• Collaboration and Networking: Worked collaboratively with local partners, other NGOs, community organizations, and other stakeholders to integrate mental health services into existing healthcare system and to utilize local resources effectively.
• Crisis Intervention and Psychosocial Support: Delivered urgent clinical assistance to individuals and families in crisis, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams. This involved psychiatric evaluations, treatment planning, psychopharmacology, and training for staff.
• Policy and Advocacy: Advocated for and assisted in development of mental health policies and programs that address the specific needs of the community, promoting mental health as a key component of public health.

Founded Toronto Arabic Psychiatric Walk-In Clinic as an extension of my private practice to address the mental health needs of the growing Arab immigrant population in Toronto, with a focus on individuals suffering from PTSD due to war, torture and displacement. The clinic operated on a no-appointment basis to provide accessible care.

• Initial Assessments and Evaluations: Conducted thorough psychiatric assessments of patients who walk in, identifying and diagnosing mental health conditions, and determining urgency and type of care needed.
• Crisis Intervention: Provided immediate intervention for patients experiencing acute psychiatric crises, such as severe PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, or psychotic episodes, and stabilized their condition.
• Short-term Treatment and Management: Offered brief, focused psychiatric interventions which may include medication management, brief psychotherapy, or crisis counseling to address immediate concerns and stabilize patient.
• Referrals and Coordination of Care: Determined when patients required more specialized or long-term care and facilitated referrals to appropriate mental health services, such as outpatient psychiatric clinics, community mental health centers, or inpatient facilities.
• Medication Prescriptions and Adjustments: Prescribed and managed psychiatric medications for acute and short-term stabilization, and made necessary adjustments based on patient's response and side effects.
• Patient Education: Provided patients and their families with education about mental health conditions, treatment options, coping strategies, and importance of follow-up care.
• Collaboration with Healthcare Professionals: Collaborated with other healthcare providers in the community.
• Documentation and Record Keeping: Maintained comprehensive and confidential patient records.

• Assessment and Diagnosis: Conducted comprehensive mental health assessments and diagnoses of students referred due to behavioral, emotional, or academic concerns, identifying issues such as ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric disorders.
• Consultation Services: Provided expert advice and consultation to educators, school counselors, school psychologists, and administrators on how to best support mental health and educational needs of students.
• Intervention Planning: Developed and recommended intervention strategies and accommodations tailored to individual student needs, which may include behavioral plans, psychoeducational support, and referrals for additional services.
• Training and Development: Conducted workshops, seminars, and training sessions for teaching staff, administrators, and school health professionals on various topics related to mental health, such as recognizing signs of mental illness, implementing supportive classroom strategies, and promoting a positive school climate.
• Crisis Intervention: Offered expertise during crises involving students' mental health, such as threats of self-harm, suicide risk, or acute behavioral episodes, and provide guidance on managing these situations. An example was a suicide pact that involved multiple students at a high school, which necessitated multilevel interventions.
• Collaboration with External Agencies: Worked closely with external mental health professionals, child welfare agencies, and other relevant organizations to coordinate care and support for students with complex needs.
• Policy Development and Implementation: Assisted in development, evaluation, and refinement of school policies related to mental health, wellness, and inclusivity, ensuring they align with best practices and legal requirements.
• Advocacy: Advocated for adequate mental health resources, services, and supports within the educational system, and promoted awareness of mental health issues among students and staff.

• Conducting Comprehensive Assessments: Performed detailed psychiatric evaluations of individuals involved in custody and access disputes and child welfare cases, assessing mental health status, parenting capabilities, and any factors that may impact well-being of child.
• Leading a Multidisciplinary Team: Led and provided mentorship to clinicians and support staff of multidisciplinary assessment team, guiding professional development, overseeing clinical practice and co-signing medical-legal reports. I fostered dynamic and collegial team team dynamics, fostering more and outcome.
• Providing Expert Testimony: Served as an expert witness in court proceedings, presenting findings from psychiatric assessments regarding custody, access, and best interests of child.
• Trainee Supervision: Supervised and provided mentorship and education to psychiatry residents at University of Toronto.
• Educational Programming: Developed and facilitated educational programs and seminars for psychiatry residents at University of Toronto.