What is a Therapeutic Assessment?
“Therapeutic Assessment (TA) is a brief intervention that uses psychological assessment to help people change their lives. Clinicians practicing TA work collaboratively with clients to develop a more accurate, compassionate, clear, and useful story about themselves and the world. Decades of research show that TA helps clients feel better and more capable of taking their next steps in life.”
-TherapeuticAssessment.com
How is a TA different from a regular evaluation and therapy?
In a traditional evaluation, the emphasis is on administering standardized tests in order to obtain scores, arrive at a diagnosis, and make treatment recommendations. In a TA, I work with you and your child or teenager to develop specific questions you are hoping to have answered, use the tests as a way to better understand the answers to your questions, and meet with you throughout the process to discuss what the tests show. Additionally, some of our sessions might include a family session, parenting session, or individual therapy session. Unlike therapy, we will not continue to meet after the evaluation is completed and you will receive a written letter summarizing the results that we discuss and recommended next steps, which might include ongoing therapy.
What is the process?
We will first talk briefly over the phone for an initial consultation to discuss if this evaluation is right for you and answer any questions you might have. If you do want to continue working with me, I will schedule an initial session with you to get more detailed background information and to go over your assessment questions. Teenagers will get their own separate initial session as well. We will discuss scheduling, fees, and how to talk to your child about the evaluation at this time as well. If you were referred by a therapist, I might ask for consent to speak to your therapist about what they are hoping to learn from this evaluation as well.
Next, I will meet with your child for multiple sessions over several weeks, which might include activities such as answering questionnaires, drawing pictures, telling stories, and answering questions. I will ask to meet with you during this process to discuss some of the testing sessions before our final discussion session. I might ask to meet with you as a family as well.
After the testing sessions, we will meet for a final discussion session to go over the evaluation and answer your assessment questions. Older children and teenagers will also get their own discussion session. After this discussion, you will get a written letter detailing the results of the evaluation, answers to your questions, and recommended next steps. We can meet for a follow-up session as needed. See more about the process here.
Feel free to contact me with any additional questions or if you would like to discuss more!