Clinical Assessments

While planning on reading this chapter I started to think about clinical assessments and begin to process that I won't be using these, so reading this won't be that necessary. My thoughts on this changed completely after reading the first couple of pages as I began to realize that even though I may not be administering these assessments, I will come into contact with the results at some point during my career as a school counselor. I have sat in on meetings where clinical assessment reports were read to the group in order to have a better understanding of the student's life. Also, if I were to consult with my student's outside counselor through a release of information, I might want to ask about any clinical assessments that have been conducted.

Before reading this chapter, assessments such as the BDI and the Myers-Briggs were the type of evaluations I thought of when I heard clinical assessments. I didn't even connect that I have used some form of clinical assessment when I worked with the career coach at my last site, as well as when I conducted guidance lessons on career readiness for 7th and 8th grade students at my current site. All the students completed a personality assessment that left them with their Holland codes. Since the students were in class sizes of approximately 15-20 in a computer lab, I went around to each student, once they completed the assessment, and explained to them what their results me. Even though I wasn't in a clinical setting and one-on-one, I still was able to complete a clinical assessment for 200+ students.