Assessing Clients2
Learning Objectives Students will: •Assess clients presenting for psychotherapy • Develop genograms for clients presenting for psychotherapy
To prepare: • Select a client whom you have observed or counseled at your practicum site. • Review pages 137–142 of the Wheeler text and the Hernandez Family Genogram video in this week’s Learning Resources. Reflect on elements of writing a Comprehensive Client Assessment and creating a genogram for the client you selected.
The Assignment
Part 1: Comprehensive Family Assessment With this client in mind, address the following in a Comprehensive Client Assessment (without violating HIPAA regulations): •Demographic information •Presenting problem •History or present illness •Past psychiatric history •Medical history • Substance use history •Developmental history •Family psychiatric history •Psychosocial history •History of abuse/trauma •Review of systems •Physical assessment •Mental status exam •Differential diagnosis •Case formulation •Treatment plan
back together. She believes that he could benefit from additional support with understanding the separation of his parents. Mother reports since separation J.S is “clingy” as evidenced by wanting to be with mother all the time (e.g., wanting to sleep with mother, wanting to be with mother in the house and not alone in his room). Mother reports J.S talks to her, but is uncertain if he has any suppressed thoughts or feelings. She shared that J.S’s father was recently on the phone with a women while he was visiting. Mother reports since this J.S has been having a lot of questions about whether his parents will be together again and whether they have other significant relationships. She shared that she wants J.S to understand the concept of his parents being apart.
History or present illness
Mother reports onset of Jayden’s behavior occurred in 2015 when her and Jayden’s father separated.
Past psychiatric history
Mother reports none
Medical history
Mother reports none.
Substance use history
Mother reports none.
Developmental history
Mother reports no delays.
Part 2: Family Genogram Prepare a genogram for the client you selected. The genogram should extend back by at least three generations (great grandparents, grandparents, and parents).
Required Readings:
(1) Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
ATTACHED WITH THIS HOMEWORK IS A SAMPLE OF THIS ASSIGNMENT AND REMEMBER IT HAS TWO PARTS.
Assessing Clients2
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
- Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
- Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
- One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
- I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
- Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
- In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
- Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
- Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
- Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
- Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
- I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
- I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
- As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
- It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
- For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
- Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
- Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
- Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
- The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
- Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
- If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
- I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
- As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
- Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
- Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
- Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
