Assessment
Immediate availability!!
I am so pleased to offer Assessment bookings within 1-2 weeks with me for Psychology Assessments and Reports including neuroaffirming Autism, ADHD assessments.
Psychological assessments are an in-depth process requiring information to be collected, interpreted, analysed, and reported.
While diagnosis in Australia, to access supports such as the NDIS, DSP in particular, require meeting criteria according to the DSM-5-TR or ICD-11, a diagnostic label only provides a conceptual consensus as to a group of traits; a label or common language to describe these characteristics. The diagnosis or label, is not the person.
To reach a conclusion that an individual meets a set of diagnostic criteria, I use a combination of clinical interview, observations, standardised instruments, screeners, and other collateral information (such as school reports, information collected from teachers, parents, partner or siblings, and reports from other professionals such as your GP or other allied health). No single screening tool or online questionnaire can diagnose. I work hard to ensure that I understand nuance, from typicality to subtlety, to complexity.
The other important thing is that if you are considering using a Psychology Assessment report to access government supports, like NDIS, you will generally need a Functional Capacity Assessment (which I am qualified to do as part of a comprehensive psychology assessment).
So what’s the process?
Pre-Assessment Session
We have an initial session, 60-90 minutes. We get to know a bit about each other, I get to understand what your concerns are, and see if my skills align with your needs. I’ll also let you know if I think you need a formal assessment (and report). This session is separate to the ‘assessment fee’ as not all clients will require a formal assessment.
If you are considering an assessment for your child, the initial session will be conducted with the adult only – ideally all parents /carers / guardians.
Assessment – Step 1 Gathering Data
I’ll get you to complete some relevant screeners and/or questionaires based on your concerns and needs.
I might also ask you to bring along documents such as school reports, other allied health reports (OT, Speechie, previous Psychology), and ask someone you know (parent, parter, relative, teacher, employer) to also complete some questionaires.
Assessment – Step 2 Conducting the assessment with you
After I review the results of your questionaires, we will schedule 1 or more sessions to complete the “formal” assessment process.
This might be a semi-structured interview, it could be a standardised assessment or both.
Depending on your concerns (the referral question) and using the data I have gathered, will indicate what assessments are required.
Sometimes we might need additional time together, and I’ll let you know if that’s indicated and if there are any additional fees.
At the conclusion of this session, the balance of your assessment fee is due in full.
Assessment – Step 3 Behind the Scenes
I then spend a few hours going through all the data I’ve collected and write up a detailed report to support my conclusions. This can take anywhere from 3-12+ hours depending on the number of assessments and who the report is for (yourself, a government agency, school/work etc or more than one!!).
Sometimes, I might need to get in contact with you before I provide my “feedback session”.
Assessment – Step 4 Feedback Session
I never provide my report to you without a feedback session. This gives us both an opportunity to ensure I have answered your concerns and gives you the chance to ask any questions.
Next Steps.
If you like, I also recommend returning a week or two later to give you some time to reflect and bring in other questions, and to support your journey post-assessment. This session is charged at a standard session fee. Alternately, I recommend taking your report to your existing supports and discussing where to from here with other professionals in your team.