September 21, 2009
This was a very intense class for me as it covered so many areas from how to relax a client or break down barriers to the six dimensions of an assessment. I am very happy to have the hands on experience as well as being able to listen in to others as they experience doing the screening. I also like that we are going through all the stages that a client may experience which lead up to the assessment. I had no idea that this process was so involved. I remember someone telling me that they had answered the 7 questions and from that knew that they were an alcoholic. Unfortunately there is much more involved and I would like to share some great suggestions that I hope to remember when a real life screening comes my way.
First of all, I liked that some housekeeping was done to relax the client. This may involve going over confidentiality, explaining what a screening is and that their right not to answer would be respected to please feel free to ask me to repeat myself if you do not understand. I also liked that while getting to know the person it is important to find out what the purpose of meeting with them is. When the scenario was presented that a person with 25 years recovery may come in, all the rules seemed to change. Now we have to dig a little deeper to see what their need may be as they already knew recovery. Something else may have been put on their plate that needed addressing which wasn’t there before. Some key words or questions I would like to remember were, “What’s not working this time? Does this person need to go to treatment? Is there anything in their past that may be coming up? Are the relationship issues, depression or dual diagnoses? Having thought through these questions I love that the professor pointed out that our questions lead us to the answer. The above questions signify that an assessment needs to be done and beyond that perhaps referrals for outside help.
Another great tidbit of the evening was what the teacher tells court referred clients. That is, “I want you to know that I’m only going to report your participation because you know I have to. You always have a choice whether to answer or not. Then after a brief on assessments I can see that we will just see the tip of the iceberg on these topics by the end of the class. So I am grateful for all the extra readings that are offered to stretch my knowledge.