Address assessment during your field education experience

Respond to the blog posts of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:
Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
Make a suggestion to your colleague’s post.
Colleague 1: Sherene 

An explanation of how you have addressed assessment or how you might address assessment during your field education experience
           Assessments are utilized at my field placement to gather evidence in order to understand presenting problems, evaluate progress and outcomes, and assess the effectiveness of interventions and programs.  The initial assessment is also utilized to gain a comprehensive understanding of a client’s circumstances, difficulties, and assets to determine a subsequent course of action or intervention plan.  This is typically completed within 72 hours of the client’s arrival.  Engagement and assessment are the first two steps in the planned change process.  Each is important to the eventual outcome of the helping relationship between the generalist social worker and the client system.  The assessment is a largely internal process through which the worker begins to put together the pieces of the puzzle, with the goal of understanding the client in the environment.  The information gathered during the assessment is gathered, analyzed, and interpreted.  In most cases, my field placement typically involves parents or guardians who have difficulty controlling the behavior of their child(ren) not receiving the assistance they desperately need (J., H. M., N., D. C., M., S. K., 2012).   Regardless of the type of situation, careful thought is necessary in order to make effective decisions about how to proceed with the case.

Reference
J., H. M., N., D. C., M., S. K.  (2012). Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families: Evidence-Informed Assessments and Interventions. [[VitalSource Bookshelf version]].  Retrieved from vbk://9781118419359
Colleague 2: Mikala
An explanation of how you have addressed assessment or how you might address assessment during your field education experience.
As an intern within the therapy department there are several ways in which I have addressed assessment. When a client is referred to the agency, the program therapist completes an evaluation. The evaluation process is spreads out into three sessions in which the bulk of the information is gathered. Within the evaluation is an information about the client, presenting problem, family history, risk assessment, sleeping and eating patterns, trauma, and much more. Sometimes the families withhold information, but this is later brought up during sessions. Throughout the second semester, I am continuing to address assessment by assessing the overall progress of the interventions used with the client. I am also assessing the clients progress on said goal, and determining if services are still needed. I am not only assessing clients progress, but I am also able to assess my own professional development. This can help me to continue to grow and develop into a social work professional. 
Colleague 3: Mike
Addressing Assessment during My Field Placement
I am responsible for keeping two one hour slots open on my schedule at my field placement site to conduct assessments for new clients. These assessments collect a holistic picture of the client and their needs so that the treating therapist has some background information to assist them when meeting the client and developing their treatment plan. The really neat part of the assessment process is that I get to do differential diagnoses and determine a DSM-V diagnosis for the client. Of course, my diagnosis is checked by my field supervisor, but so far I have been pretty close to spot on with all of my diagnoses.  Making sure the client has the right diagnosis is crucial in the therapist being able to assist the client create and meet their treatment goals (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2018).
               I also use a few assessment tools to screen for suicide risk and depression. I use the PHQ-9 scale and the C-SSRS SAFE-T suicide assessment scale. I ran into one problem with the suicide assessment scale in that it asks about incidents over the last month, and the client had just been released from inpatient care a couple of weeks ago. Their answers made them screen at the top of the scale, while in actuality they were at low risk, due to being treated for their issues already.
               During regular therapy sessions, I am always assessing my client’s affect and mood, and ask if they are thinking about suicide. In my field placement’s progress notes, there are drop down boxes to provide assessments of the client and any symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions that they may present during the session. In my field placement, assessment does not stop at intake but continues throughout a client’s interactions with me and the other therapists here.