INTAKE AND ASSESSMENT

 

Interview

Clinical interviewing is a fundamental area and most important ports of entry into a client's life.  It helps the Christian counselor to make a clinical diagnosis and obtain an accurate assessment of the level of functioning and at the same time establish a therapeutic relationship with the client.  There are six essential components of the interviewing process:

• The chief complaint. Client's perception of the primary purpose for seeking therapy.
• The history of present illness. An assessment on symptoms. 
• Physical health. Discuss medical problems. 
• Social history. Obtain full social history. 
• Loss and trauma. 
• Mental status exam. Gathering information about key mental functions based on overall interview.

Assessment

The intake and assessment process of Christian Counseling involves several steps.  First, in order for the Christian counselor to be accurate he/she must learn to evaluate the visible and the invisible elements of the client’s life. When a counselor knows the client well and has a precise picture of his/her life, the intervention process becomes more helpful and accepted by the client.  

The main purposes of the Christian counseling relationship are to facilitate an accurate evaluation of the problem and develop an effective treatment plan that the client can understand and follow:  
Christian counselors may utilize the assessment tool “BECHRISTLIKE” which has been developed describing the modes of human experience.  This Christ-centered multimodal assessment tool contains 12 items:

• Behavior. Defines key behavior patterns and assesses whether behavior is helpful or harmful.
• Emotions. Describes desired feelings and assesses primary emotional patterns.
• Cognition. Assesses thought process.
• Health. Notes medical problems and care.
• Religion. Assesses church life and Christian practices.
• Idols and false beliefs. Assesses problems and their relation to spiritual values.
• Substances. Assesses drug use.
• Teachability. Assesses client’s motivation and trust and biases.
• Law/ethics. Assesses whether the client is a danger for self or others.
• Interpersonal relations. Describes current issues and history with family and friends.
• Knowledge. Assesses skill strengths and deficits.
• Environment. Assesses external obstacles and reaction triggers.

 
The AACC Code of Ethics states the following standards with reference to assessment:

1-530 - Ethics in Testing, Assessment, and Clinical Evaluation

            Christian counselors do clinical evaluations of clients only in the context of professional relations, in the best interests of clients, and with the proper training and supervision.  Christian counselors avoid (1) incompetent and inaccurate evaluations, (2) clinically unnecessary and excessively expensive testing, and (3) unauthorized practice of testing and evaluation that is the province of another clinical or counseling discipline.  Referral and consultation are used when evaluation is desired or necessary beyond the competence and/or role of the counselor.

1-531 - Use of Appropriate Assessments

            Christian counselors use tests and assessment techniques that are appropriate to the needs, resources, capabilities, and understanding of the client.  We apply tests skillfully and administer tests properly and safely.  We substantiate our findings, with knowledge of the reliability, validity, outcome results, and limits of the tests used.  We avoid both the misuse of testing procedures and the creation of confusion or misunderstanding by clients about testing purposes, procedures, and findings.

 

References
 

American Association of Christian Counselors. (2004) America association of christian counselors AACC Code of Ethics code of ethics. Assessed from http://www.aacc.net/about-us/code-of-ethics/

Clinton, T. & G. Ohlschlager. (2002). Competent christian counseling. Waterbrook Press: Colorado.

Clinton T. & R. Hawkins. (2011). The popular encyclopedia of christian counseling. Harvest House    Publishers: Eugene, Oregon.