Mental Health Assessment
The mental health assessment is the first step in treatment. This assessment allows me to gain a thorough understanding of the client’s concerns, symptomology, and background history. During this initial assessment, previous psychological reports and/or treatment history is also reviewed. This assessment typically takes approximately ninety minutes to complete. From this, possible diagnoses are considered and treatment plans are formulated.
Therapy
Therapeutic interventions are individually tailored for each client according to what will best work for the client’s problems and with the client’s personality. Regardless of the intervention, I view therapy as a collaborative approach, working with the client in a “team effort.” Depending on the presenting concerns, I typically work closely with the family of the child or adolescent so that families may achieve further insight into the client’s difficulties and progress continues at home.
Psychological Testing
Sometimes clients have been to many different agencies and received many different diagnoses. Some clients may be especially complicated and require a more in-depth assessment in order to truly understand all the factors contributing to that individual’s psychological profile and arrive at a diagnosis. For these clients, psychological testing may be recommended. During psychological testing, specific psychological measures that gather further information regarding emotional and cognitive functioning are administered in order to gain a clearer understanding of the client.