ASSESSMENT—BEGINNING THE JOURNEY

Understanding Your Teenager’s Personal Situation

We assess a teenager’s level of functioning in four major areas: school, social relationships, home life, and overall emotional well-being.

The comprehensive assessment begins with a meeting with the teen, parents, and extended family members. We also gather information from involved professionals, including teachers, counselors, doctors, probation officers, and others. In some cases, we recommend psychological testing to fully ascertain the teen’s level of cognitive, academic, or emotional functioning. We also assess the level of risk for self-harm and the teen’s motivation for treatment.

Primary Areas of Assessment

1. Education
   We gather and review information about the adolescent’s academic strengths, weaknesses, and motivation. We speak with school professionals, review transcripts and test scores, and in some cases, request past or new cognitive or academic testing.

2. Emotional Resilience or Vulnerability
   A teenager’s behavior is often a reflection of his or her emotional state. We assess your teenager’s emotional and psychological well-being. A teenager often struggles, acts out, and makes poor decisions as a result of his or her emotional issues. We speak with many clinicians about the well-being of the adolescent and family.

3. Family Life
   We are interested in understanding the impact of the teenager’s recent behavior on the family. We also explore relevant factors such as divorce, remarriage, adoption, family relationships, as well as the family’s strengths, hopes, expectations, and values.