Why Did She Put Nail Polish in my Drink? Applying the Therapeutic Assessment Model With an African American Foster Child in a Community Mental Health Setting

Why Did She Put Nail Polish in My Drink? Applying the Therapeutic Assessment Model With an African American Foster Child in a Community Mental Health Setting

published in Journal of Personality Assessment Volume 93, Issue 1

by Brooke Guerrero, Jessica Lipkind, and Audrey Rosenberg, WestCoast Children’s Clinic

Abstract

Although the majority of research on Therapeutic Assessment (TA) discusses the application of TA in research or private practice settings, we found that the model could be applied in a community mental health setting. We argue that when implementing this model with racially diverse, low socioeconomic status children, it is essential to integrate issues of class, privilege, and race into the assessment process. A case is presented that illuminates the specific concerns and struggles of adapting this model to a community psychology population. This analysis includes the interface with systems, placement stability, and consideration of culturally responsible treatment. We also demonstrate how the support of a treatment team helps the individual clinician process and integrate the levels of trauma and pain with which these families present.

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Training Assessors in Therapeutic Assessment

Training Assessors in Therapeutic Assessment

Published in the Journal of Personality Assessment Volume 93, Issue 1

by Maryanne E. Haydel, Barbara L. Mercer, and Erin Rosenblatt, WestCoast Children’s Clinic

Abstract

This article focuses on the use of the comprehensive Therapeutic Assessment training model (Finn, 2007) with a child and his mother. The mother observed the child’s testing sessions and was actively involved in a family intervention session as a way of translating assessment results into practice. One psychologist administered the psychological tests with the child, and 2 other clinicians worked with the mother throughout the process. We offer ideas about learning and training in the context of our case in Therapeutic Assessment. We investigate the parallel process between the way in which parents learn about their child’s perspective and the way in which clinicians learn about the family’s perspective. We discuss our discoveries in the context of planning case interventions. We explore the impact of trauma and ways of holding and containing this difficult work within our community and with each other.

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Psychological Assessment of Children in a Community Mental Health Clinic

Psychological Assessment of Children in a Community Mental Health Clinic

published in Journal of Personality Assessment Volume 93, Issue 1

by Barbara L. Mercer, PsyD, WestCoast’s Assessment Program Director

Abstract

Collaborative and Therapeutic Assessment (TA) models (Finn & Tonsager, 1997; Fischer, 1985/1994) use psychological tests to answer clientconstructed assessment questions in an understandable language, to be an intervention in and of themselves, and to initiate recommendations related to the referral. This article considers the application of Finn’s TA model to an urban community psychology clinic in Oakland, California, where foster and kinship care, the child welfare system, trauma, neglect, and attachment disruptions are children’s usual experience. These children hide their pain and complaints (Kelly, 1999), but show highly problematic behaviors to bewildered and frustrated caretakers, social workers, and school personnel. Their trauma, however, also often permeates the assessment data and shocks the assessor. A rationale is made for the necessity of a relational, culturally aware, systemic model in providing psychological assessment services to children and families in a community setting.

Visit the journal’s website to access the full article.