Competency-Based Assessments in Mental Health Practice

“<i>Competency-Based Assessments in Mental Health Practice</i> should be required reading for all clinical practitioners and students. Author Susan W. Gray provides a competency-based assessment model that moves away from looking at mental illness as a ‘disease’ to capturing people’s strengths and the uniqueness of their experience with mental illness.”<br/> <b>—Alex Gitterma</b><br/> <b>Zachs Professor and Director of PhD Program</b><br/> <bUniversity/> <p/> “<i>Competency-Based Assessment in Mental Health Practice</i> not only describes the rather cumbersome DSM-IV-TR^® in a manner that graduate students and clinicians can easily understand and apply, but it also presents a competency-based type of clinical assessment that most effectively integrates the social work practice orientation that acknowledges, appreciates, and nurtures client strengths, resilience, and client ability for empowerment.”<br/> <b>—Agathi Glezakos, PhD, LCSW</b><br/> <b>School of Social Work</b><br/> <b>California State University, Long Beach</b> <p/> <b><i>A competency-based assessment model integrating</i></b><br/> <b><i>DSM classifications for a complete, strengths-based diagnosis</i></b> <p/> <i><b>C</b>ompetency-Based Assessments in Mental Health Practice</i> introduces a unique, competency-based assessment that presents a brief overview of the major mental disorders that practitioners will likely encounter in their work with clients, followed by a series of case studies and practical applications. <p/> This book provides valuable guidance for clinicians to make assessments grounded in client strengths and possibilities for a more therapeutically complete picture of every client’s “story.” <p/> Organized around selected diagnostic categories from the <i>DSM-IV-TR</i>, this hands-on guide offers a multidimensional look at the many factors that play a role in a client’s life. Its holistic approach to the assessment process considers each client’s unique experience with mental illness, through a concurrent evaluation of strengths and pathology, in order to set the stage for realistic optimism about the potential for change.