The Role Of Psychological Assessment On Counseling And Clinical Practice

The assessment process is the back bone to any package of care and it is vital that it is personal and appropriate to the individual concerned. Although studies have found that there is no singular theory or understanding as to what the purpose of assessment is, there are different approaches and forms of assessment carried out in health and social care. These different approaches can sometimes result in different outcomes.

A clinical assessment is then conducted for treatment needs. Different treatment plans are made for each client. Individualized treatment plans are used to make referrals and they are updated periodically.”

To ensure that all possible clients of all walks of life are successfully benefiting from the counseling profession, advancement in the assessment field should be of a primary concern for present and future counselors. It is understood and respected that a multitude of counselors vary in the foundations of their theoretical framework and collectively not all counselors participate in assessment with their clients, but as the counseling profession continues to grow the demand of expansion is critical.

Largely, the entire test proved thought provoking as this was a subjective test. Meaning everyone's values are not the same, everyone is not driven by the same motives. This could be problematic in obtaining valid results. It has given this writer cause to carefully examine assessments that are being administered clients. Reliability and validity have a great importance in how counselor should utilize assessments and can assist in finding appropriate instruments in order to be more effective with clients.

Cohen, R. J., Swerdlik, M. E., & Sturman, E. D. (2013). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement (8th Ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Evaluation, as involved with counseling, is a process of assessment of the client. It may involve a standardized model of questioning, testing or a means of gathering information in which to use in the formulation of a diagnosis in a client. Evaluation is an important part of diagnoses and as such is listed in the Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014), (“American Counseling Association Online education resources CE ethics publications careers conferences,” n.d.)in section E. An example of an instance in which a counselor would evaluate a client is in the event the client presents as a suicide risk.

The purpose of this essay is to explain the assessment interview process. This essay will feature an imaginary interview involving the client and helping process. The significance of the interview process initiates effective case management and entails direction of the client's goals (Kyser, 2014).

The assessment holistic approach to understanding what has occurred and currently occurring in the clients life as well as understanding what is considered a priority of treatment for them and their guardian. The assessment begins with the presenting issues asking what brought the client in. The section also covers when the problem started, how long it has been going on, what is the level of intensity of the problems, and how frequently do they occur. In the family and social history section examples of questions asked are current household member, how does the client get along with others, client's strengths, and who do they go to when they need help. The next section is the abuse and sexual risk behavior where the client is asked if they feel safe inside and or outside there home and if they have or know of anyone that has been abused or neglected. Developmental history is then taken, which includes history of pregnancy, any disorder or disabilities the client has been diagnosed with, and delays in any motor

Clinical Assessment=According to our book, the term Clinical assessment generally refers to applying assessment procedures to (a) diagnose a mental disorder, (b) develop a plan of intervention, (c)monitor progress in counseling, and (d) evaluate counseling outcome. (Drummond, 2010). Clinical assessment has been the method used when diagnosing and planning treatment for a patient. The first step is evaluating the individual in order to obtain information and figure out what is wrong. Counselors, conduct this assessment to develop and adhere a plan of intervention, monitor clients progress, and ensue all information are interpreted and understood.

Whitlatch (2013) defines a family assessment as a process of gathering, systematizing and analyzing information to help the family take preventative or problem-solving measures. A family assessment presents an unbiased view of overall understanding of a family- not merely problems, but also its needs, strengths, values and goals. As these dynamic features keep changing over time, a family assessment is an ongoing exercise (Whitlatch, 2013). When an assessment is undertaken with a solution-focused approach to identify family 's strengths and potential to prevent or solve health issues, it is termed as a family strengths assessment. It helps understand health issues and the needs from the family’s perspective and plan a healthcare accordingly utilizing the family 's inherent strengths to yield a positive health outcome. (Peterson, Blackburn, Bazemore, OʼNeill, & Phillips, 2014)

Ideally assessment should be undertaken in collaboration with the whole family system including the action plan, unless of course a person is suffering or being caused harm by those within the family system.

Different assessment examines different features of an individual, or similar assessments examine similar features in different ways. Three assessments that regard family conditions and that are considered important are, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES III), the Family Assessment Device (FAD), and the Self-report Family Inventory (SFI).

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

In Mental Health practice, the assessment of a patient is a vital part of their treatment as it is required to be aware of their ailment before a treatment plan/course is made. Therefore, risk management is a practice that involves the assessment and engagement of an individual through standard assessment tools and approaches so as to devise a means to manage an individual’s risk behaviour(s). Assessment is essential when it comes to nursing practice, as it is a major key element of knowing what care is required as well as knowing if the right form of care is delivered successfully (Combst et al., 2013). The questions that usually come to mind will be how the assessment is carried out and how will the practitioners and clients react to the outcome of this assessment. The aim of this assignment is to critically analyse the assessment tools, models and approaches utilised in mental health practice. Furthermore, a consideration will be given to the limitations of the assessment practice such as the reliability of the assessment tools. To carry out this task, a fictitious individual will be used in this report. A number of possible ailment and presenting risk behaviours are listed then an eventual analytical procedure for the individual’s assessment will be explained.

A psychological assessment is the venture of a capable experts, generally a psychologist, to operate the techniques and tools or materials of psychology to ascertain either common or unique facts about another person, either to notify others how they function now, or estimate their attitude,behavior and functioning in the future. The issue of assessment is generally diagnosis or classification. These are the movement of placing a person in a certainly or loosely characterized category of people. This leads to swiftly grasp what they are similar in general, and to evaluate the existence of other thematic features based upon people similar or likely to them. Case history data, clinical interview, psychological tests and behavioral observations