Client Assessment

Description of Client and Counseling Issue For this discussion assignment, my selection of a client for appropriate application of an assessment instrument stemmed from my experience providing community-based services to individuals with severe mental illness. The client for this assignment closely resembles many of the clients that I have provided mental health skill building services for over the years and my selection was based on the understanding that I will have experience with those with severe mental health diagnoses in my future counseling practice. For this discussion, the client is a African-American female that is 54 years of age, who is currently receiving mental health skill building services through a community-based provider …show more content…
The SCL-90-R is a self-report inventory comprised of 90 items tailored to assess for “psychopathology in a variety of clinical settings” (Grande, Newmeyer, Underwood, & Williams, 2014, p. 271). Within clinical settings, the assessment instrument has been utilized to assess mental health disorders such as “(a) depression, (b) anxiety and panic, (c) personality disorders, (d) ADHD, (e) obsessive-compulsive disorders, and (f) dissociative disorders” (Grande et al., 2014, p. 274). Specifically, the SCL-90-R has been highlighted as being able to distinguish between the depressive symptoms and the symptoms of anxiety that the client presented with in the initial counseling session and differentiate between the disorders of depression and anxiety (Grande et al., 2014). Whiston (2017) highlighted the benefits in utilizing a standardized checklist such as the SCL-90-R in that the counselor can apply the instrument as a “valuable initial screening” instrument to “examine which symptoms are distressing to the client” (p. 151). In addition to the utilization of the instrument for assessing client symptomatology, the counselor can also utilize the checklist as a measure of client progress and administer the assessment periodically throughout services, especially as Whiston (2017) posited that “counselors are encouraged to institute a treatment monitor assessment” (p. …show more content…
273). From a multicultural standpoint, selection of the SCL-90-R would adhere to the standards set forth by the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC) governing the selection of culturally sensitive assessment instruments as well as the skills and knowledge base that clinical mental health counselors must maintain regarding limitations of assessment instruments with the culturally diverse (Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling, 2018). As the assessment instrument can be viewed to be sensitive to cultural diversity, it also adheres to the ethical guidelines set forth by the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics (2014) in that it is sensitive to the “client’s personal and cultural context” and is employed to “gather information regarding the client for a variety of purposes” to promote the general well-being of the client (p.

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