Interviewing those in the field was one of the first assignments in the counseling and art therapy program. I was a little intimidating asking to interview a counselor and an art therapist. I ended up getting connected with a licensed professional counselor through a connection my dad had. I ended up befriending an art therapist via LinkedIn and they both were so kind and helpful. Here are the interviews and the reflection of the experience.
Within the mental health field, professionals are always using assessment and measurement to provide a better understanding of their clients as well as creating opportunities to start conversations. To gain more information about the assessments being used, we conducted interviews with professionals with both a Licensed Counselor and a certified Art Therapist. Within this paper, the author will discuss how two professionals, a Licensed Counselor, and an Art Therapist, use assessments, what tests they like, which tests they do not like, and modification they might make.
Interview Summary
Licensed Professional Counselor
Ronni Schaack is an LPCC-S and partner at The Gentle Shephard Counseling Center. The Gentle Shephard is an interesting facility in that it will use religion if the client wants faith intertwined in therapy. She normally works with the general public and provides individual, family, and couple therapy. She occasionally will get those who have traits of personality disorders including borderline and narcissistic. As a mental health professional, Ronni regularly utilizes the MMPI, MCMI, and BECK depression and anxiety with her population. Ronni mentions her facility uses what assessment and tests they need. She personally does not believe there are assessments she would like to use but cannot because she uses what they have, and it works for them. When asked about assessments and tests that should not be utilized, she talked about needing specific training to interpret results and they have psychologists at the facility who help with interpretations of results. Specifically, the MMPI and MCMI need professionally competent therapists giving and interpreting results. Lastly, Ronni talked about how she does use assessments differently based on the historical, cultural, ability, and psychopathological of her clients. One modification she mentions is when a client is in a specific state where they are unable to take the assessment, she mentions possibly reading the questions to the client or waiting to administer the test. She also mentions how they are constantly aware of the reflection of culture through the assessment and learning the cultural norms to better understand the assessment or test results.
Art Therapist
Kristina Fuller is an LCP, ATR who works with the older population mostly those who suffer from dementia. She also runs groups for the loved ones and caregivers of dementia and video counseling mostly for those in crisis. Kristina runs weekly workshops that focus on stress relief and art as therapy. As a mental health professional, she mentions using assessments can sometimes be hard for this population but regularly she utilizes the House-Tree-Person, the Bridge drawing, and other things including medical files and the family. She mentions just talking with a client can tell her a lot about the level of functioning they are at and helps her figure out the strengths, presenting concerns, and medium that is best to use in treatment. One thing she mentions is interesting is having them do an assessment and then comparing them to later assessments. Kristina mentioned it will show a possible decline in functioning but does help assess where the clients were at and are now. One assessment Kristina would like to give more but can not is drawing a bridge. She mentions this assessment does not work with this population as well as she would like. She feels that even when she does implement this assessment, it is harder for her to work with the client to gain interpretation. Kristina mentioned not utilizing assessment that needs a lot of therapist interpretation alone. She mentioned not wanting to be a sole interpreter because the probability of projection is too high. Lastly, Kristina talked about how she does use assessments differently based on the historical, cultural, ability, and psychopathological of her clients. She mentioned always approaching clients respectfully and carefully in her question-asking to be sure not to trigger or hurt her clients. She specifically mentioned only focusing on one object in House- Tree- Person because this population might struggle working or think about multiple things at a time.
Reflection
Assessment and tests are important parts of all mental health professionals. They allow more information to be gathered and facilitate communication. Listening to the professionals about what populations they have worked with and what assessments they use is interesting and exciting. I enjoy learning about big assessments like the NEO-PI-3, MBTI, SASSI, FES, and the STAI-AD, but I am really interested to be learning about more assessments in a more hands-on way and within fields, I may work in. Looking at assessments and tests in a general way is a daunting task, but it is important to learn about these assessment norms and validity. It is interesting to learn about how some assessments/tests work well for specific populations or many populations and how that will affect me while I am a therapist. I am interested in what assessments and tests I will utilize regularly when I am a mental health professional and how I will grow throughout my career. Will there be tests I want to use but cannot because it might not work well with the population or will there be assessment, I do not like to utilize? I know I need to learn and educate myself on all assessments/tests I will be using as well as having a basic understanding of what population I will be working with. Mostly, I am ready to grow through this process. Learning through class and other professionals is so important and gaining even more information gets me ready for the future.
Conclusion
As mental health professionals, we use assessments and tests in many different populations and environments. It is important to understand the assessment and population to gain an understanding of what the test and assessment will provide. Assessments and tests provide therapists more opportunities to facilitate communication and gain more information that might not otherwise be uncovered. By interviewing a Licensed Counselor and an Art Therapist I have learned a lot about the population they work with and assessments that best work for the client. Within this paper, the author discussed how two professionals, a Licensed Counselor, and an Art Therapist, use assessments, what tests they like, which tests they do not like, and modification they might make as well as a reflection of all that has been learned.
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