Mental Health Intake Questions

If there is risk of harm to self and others than it is the clinician’s duty of care to disclose it. Thorough and systematic evaluation of risk for suicide and self harm is imperative for safety planning and decision making for treatment. Harm minimisation responses must be specific to the client’s unmet needs. It is important to educate the client about online help forums in case of emergency and for later support. Liaison with other health practitioners and follow-up are part of management plans. If the clinician sees the need for referral than that must be addressed with the client’s consent.

hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, and hospitals claiming “other specialty”. The criteria for the study were previous suicide attempts, drug abuse, and being admitted to a hospital for suicidality. Whether or not the hospitals conducted a mental health assessment was not a requirement for participation in the study, but this factor was considered.

Of the 51 questions relating to the client, each field reports basic demographic information about the client, the client’s parents if the referred individual is a minor, and other household members. While I do understand the need for each of the required fields coming from the

The Mental Health Services Act is a monumental proposition that has helped many people for more than a decade. In California alone, close to 1.2 million adults and around 422,000 children live with a serious mental illness (State 2010). Without the proper treatment, suicide is the leading cause of death for a person battling an untreated mental illness (State 2010). With over thirteen billion dollars raised so far, MHSA has been the root of funding for mental health in California (Williams 2015). MHSA is still a work in progress. The act is nowhere near perfect, as a recent audit has shown, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

This intake packet is lengthy. I do believe it would be beneficial to the client if there were not so many questions. People coming in for services already have concerns or issues they are trying to work through. Many times, clients feel overwhelmed or anxious about beginning mental health services. This intake form, with all its questions and nine pages, may contribute to increased anxiety or be overwhelming for people. The questions are

There are some questions within the intake form that can be difficult for the client to follow, as they are heavy with regards to medical terminology. When seeking information regarding substance abuse issues the intake form outlines the medical term for the different types of substances a client can be utilizing potentially making it difficult for the client to determine the types of substances that the client has chosen to utilize. Otherwise, the remainder of the form appears to be written in a way that can be understood among different reading levels.

Goal : To assess for suicidal, homicidal intent, to gather psychological history, family, educational and developmental history, to assess client and family needs and strengths, to formulate a clinical diagnosis and complete all necessary assessments tools in order to assist the family in developing and reaching the goals that have been identified.

The intake form is easy to read and presented in a way that is easy to navigate through. As a client it would be easy enough to go down the list and answer the questions. As a social worker, there may be concern that important questions do not pop out such as suicide idealizations and owning a gun. The question regarding if a client is wanting to harm someone else should also be included in this form for obvious safety

2) Do I understand exactly what the problem is and how it influences the client?

This week clinical I felt better prepared than I did with my first week. I was able to focus a lot more on interpersonal skills and develop therapeutic relationship with my patients. In terms of Mental Status Examination (MSE), this assessment provided me with a helpful base of information from which to observe changes, progress, and monitor risks. Especially, suicide risk assessment is a gateway to patient treatment and management. The purpose of suicide risk assessment is to identify treatable and modifiable risks and protective factors that inform the patient’s treatment and safety management requirements. I got insight into how important it is to document suicide risk assessments with sufficient information. Documentation of suicide risk assessments facilitates continuity of care and promotes communication between staff members across changing shifts. It is easy for suicidal patients to “fall through the cracks” of a busy psychiatric unit that has rapid patient turnover of admissions and discharges, and mostly during shift change. Asking question such as “What is your view of the future?” or “Do you think things will get better or worse?” helped me to elicit important information regarding patients suicidal ideation. Additionally, how my patients expressed their hope about the future assisted me to identify, prioritize, and integrate risk and protective factors into an overall assessment of the patient’s suicide risk and include in MSE.

Because I work in an hospital that cares for populations at great risk for substance abuse and untreated mental issues and disorders, I get to see patients that have, or at some time will try to commit suicide, I would like to take this opportunity to learn how to properly assess the community, to help those in need, and to educate their families and friends to look for, and recognize signs that can prevent suicides, toward this end, it is important that I have the necessary knowledge to assimilate the information in this study, in a manner that will provide greater benefit not only to my

The mental health intake form I chose from the internet was lacking in multidimensional methodology and lacked significant information about client subsystems. Accordingly, the questions that regarded behavioral functioning did not cover presenting problems thoroughly. Specific questions about coping skills, social skills, and parenting skills were absent. Although, one question was asked regarding the client’s relationship with their children (which could insight into parenting skills), it was too open ended to get any major information. The assessment contained a section on legal history that was also not thorough. The spiritual section lacked crucial information. For instance, it did not ask about supportive relationships (i.e. name of a

Becoming acquainted with a potential client’s history, personality and present concerns is necessary in forming a foundation for counseling interventions. This information gathering phase is referred to as assessment (Mears, 2010). While some mental health professionals will use an interview as their primary assessment tool, others will utilize testing

How the mind can be effected by the food? . What we eat is what we are. Food can change the mood of any person. For example, if someone ate a salad for breakfast will have better mode than someone who ate a burger for breakfast. Furthermore, food that contains sugar will have negative results on the mental, but the fruits and vegetables will absolutely benefit the mind. As Zwier explains, the food that contains Omega-3, and also that help the mind to focus and memorize things (2012). Some food gives the mind good energy types of food have some effects on people mental: amount of food, fats and how to avoid mental problems.

Following referral of a confused client for treatment by healthcare professionals, an initial care plan is designed. A care plan is a treatment plan agreed between the confused client and their multidisciplinary team (MDT) to address their mental health issues. It includes an assessment of the client’s health, personal and social care needs ensuring they get the best care. The MDT works with the client to achieve specific goals. The MDT may need to change the care plan depending on client’s state of health (HSE 2016).