First Impressions Matter
What is the first step in a counseling session where the counselor gathers background information, explains confidentiality, and sets expectations?
What is the intake interview (i.e., initial assessment)
This type of instrument is commonly used by counselors to assess a client’s level of functioning. While often administered during the initial interview, it can also be used at other points throughout the counseling process.
What is the Mental Status Exam (MSE)
What elements of a safety plan involve recognizing cues of rising risk and developing techniques to manage those feelings?
What are warning signs and coping strategies
This tool, introduced in the DSM-5, uses open-ended questions to help clinicians understand a client’s background, beliefs, and treatment preferences, aiming to improve culturally responsive mental health care.
What is the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI)
Updated in the 1990s, this self-report tool asks clients about feelings such as sadness, guilt, and changes in sleep or appetite over the past two weeks to measure depressive symptom severity.
What is the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II)
Cultivating this early in sessions is critical to encourage openness and accurate self-reporting from clients.
What is the therapeutic alliance/building rapport
These brief assessment tools are designed to identify potential concerns by providing preliminary insights early in the counseling process.
What are screeners
Chapter 7 describes this term as encompassing self-injury, suicidal thoughts, and failed suicide attempts, all behaviors that indicate significant risk but do not result in death.
What is non-fatal suicidality
This is a tool that is used to study illness-related beliefs, this interview blends anthropology and epidemiology to explore cultural views of symptoms and treatment preferences through both open-ended and structured queries.
What is the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC)
Co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders are common among U.S. adults, with approximately this percentage experiencing both conditions simultaneously.
What is 38%
During the initial assessment, this type of information includes the client’s physical health, mental health history, social supports, and presenting problems.
What is biopsychosocial information
When using a screening instrument, counselors should consider not only how many symptoms a client reports but also this aspect, because clients may under or over report.
What is symptom severity (or intensity)?
A client in acute crisis who requires continuous monitoring and overnight stabilization would most likely be referred to this level of care.
What is inpatient treatment
This semi-structured interview protocol is designed to elicit detailed narratives about individuals’ experiences of illness, symptoms, and help-seeking, and is often used in cross-cultural health research.
What is the McGill Illness Narrative Interview (MINI)
The reading notes that some alcohol screening tools have been adapted to identify additional substance use concerns. One such version expands the original four-question format to also assess illicit drug use.
What is the CAGE-AID
A client reports to her college counselor that she recently drove home drunk after a fight with her partner. She continues to discuss throughout the session how she has been unable to cope with the loss of her brother, and the counselor focuses the session on minimizing risk for substance abuse. Which of the following errors of judgment is most likely happening?
What is anchoring
This widely used self-report instrument assesses a broad range of psychological problems and symptoms of psychopathology across nine dimensions, helping counselors understand overall symptom patterns rather than provide a diagnosis. What instrument is it?
What is the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R)
Counselors should pay closest attention to these key indicators when determining a client’s level of suicide risk.
What are ideation, plan, intent, and means
This was developed as a streamlined way to understand how clients explain their problems, this interview helps reveal cultural and personal beliefs that shape their experience of illness.
What is the Short Explanatory Model Interview (SEMI)
The textbook highlights a framework designed to help counselors and educators notice patterns of behavior or emotional shifts that may signal potential risk or crisis, using an acronym to guide observation and early intervention.
What is the REDFLAGS Model
Asking clients to clarify or rephrase responses during the intake helps ensure the counselor understands their experiences. This technique is part of what broader interviewing goal?
What is enhancing clarity and accuracy in information gathering
Counselors combine structured tools, client history, and professional judgment to evaluate a client’s potential for behaviors that could compromise safety or well-being, often informing urgent interventions and monitoring.
What is suicide risk assessment
In the reading, this is an approach that recognizes the impact of trauma and seeks to avoid re-traumatization by focusing on safety, empowerment, and collaboration, which are principles that foster client recovery and resilience.
What is trauma-informed care
When assessing for co-occurring mental health and addiction issues, this approach emphasizes using both standardized instruments and client narratives to differentiate overlapping symptoms and consider the impact of stigma and cultural beliefs on the assessment process.
What is the integrated or holistic assessment approach
During assessment, counselors gather information that helps them notice significant changes in a client’s condition, allowing for timely intervention. What is this benefit called?
What is early identification and timely response to worsening symptomology