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This article covers assessments for individuals. For assessments with couples click here.
Why An Assessment?
- Is working with this counsellor suitable for you?
- Might this counsellor’s therapeutic practices benefit you?
- Could there be anything that might be contra-indicative of beginning counselling together?
These questions would be how I would very briefly describe the purpose of an assessment.
A Summary of the Assessment Process.
As a BACP Accredited counsellor in private practice, I perform my own assessments with my private clients. Mostly I am interested in hearing your story, told in the way that you want to tell it. At the same time I will need to make some checks to see if my methods of counselling works for you.
- Before counselling take place, you meet with a counsellor for an assessment.
- The counsellor and you will discuss your problems.
- The session provides time to discuss if counselling can help.
- Your counsellor will discuss what they can offer, costs and commitment with you.
- By the end of an assessment, both you and the counsellor can agree a focus of the work and can agree the next part of the work.
- The aim is to inform you as fully as possible about what you’re getting into before you do.
We meet for 50 minutes. We will both have questions of each other – I need to know about you and you will need to know about me. This is a mutual assessment of each other.
Apart from noting down your story, I also have a form that helps us navigate through a counselling assessment. I will be learning:-
- What is(are) your current problem(s)?
- Have you had counselling before?
- Your occupation, relationship status, children, medical health.
- Why have you chosen counselling now?
- What do you hope to gain from counselling … and what your goals/achievements might be for when the counselling is completed.
- Some historical information (eg your first memory)
- A conversation about your family.
- A conversation about your work education.
- A conversation about your support networks.
- A discussion about if we both think if counselling might be helpful for you, or maybe to refer you to another therapy.
Keeping you Informed.
I will discuss with you about my counselling models, qualifications and ethics, about confidentiality and how it effects you, about where the law requires I disclose information (such as serious criminal activity, intended harm to yourself and/or others, or the Children’s Act) and that I will discuss with you before I make such disclosures, also about my supervision arrangements.
By the end of the assessment.
At the end of the assessment we should both have a better understanding of if we think we can work together, if counselling might be a helpful process (for you) to go through (together), and what will be the focus of our counselling work. We will discuss fees, appointment times and vacation/absences, and what we can expect from each other (we call this “contracting”).
Appointment times.
I offer a weekly counselling appointments at the same time, same day & same location(rather than several times a week, or ad-hoc ‘drop-in’ sessions).
Note taking.
I do not take written notes during a counselling session, but I do write notes during an assessment.
All in fifty minutes?!
It’s true – there is a lot to cover in an assessment session, which is why I won’t hurry you (your needs are primarily important over those of the form) … but this sometimes may lead us into continuing the assessment in the next session. This is all perfectly fine and we can spend as much time on the assessment as we both need.
Make an appointment for your counselling assessment today.
