How to start a career in assessment

[hum1]

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I am a clinical psychologist and have been doing psychotherapy mostly in private practice for the past 20 years. I want to do something different and assessment/evaluations/testing seems to be a possible choice.

My question is, how do I start? I did assessment as part of my academic training but am in need of training/supervision/practice. Should I register for courses on assessment and then contact clinics and other psychologists in my area and offer to do assessment? Should I do the courses and then offer evaluations in my private practice? Should I start by contacting other clinicians and offer help so that I can learn to do assessment and reports with them?

I am not sure on what the first steps are. Thank you.

 

[Justanothergrad]

Hi

Couple questions. Happy to answer.

1. What kinda assessment- whst population, scope if eval, pay method, forensic scope, etc

2. What is your training in (eg standard personality/iq, specialization area (mil/vet, ptsd, etc), areas not known- eg projective, etc) and how sharp are your diagnostic skills?

3. What prof orgs are you in and what is uour conference plan/opportunity?

4. What is the timeline you believe you are working on

 

[WisNeuro]

Hi

Couple questions. Happy to answer.

1. What kinda assessment- whst population, scope if eval, pay method, forensic scope, etc

2. What is your training in (eg standard personality/iq, specialization area (mil/vet, ptsd, etc), areas not known- eg projective, etc) and how sharp are your diagnostic skills?

3. What prof orgs are you in and what is uour conference plan/opportunity?

2 definitely the big issue here, though with pretty much only doing therapy for the past 20 years, I'd have to imagine OP would need some serious training and supervision to bring competency up to par.

 

[hum1]

Thank you.

The testing that I did in the past was mainly personality, intelligence, and clinical. I remember doing the WISC, WAIS, MMPI, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, and the Standford Binet.

Last time I did these tests was 6 years ago. I take competency very seriously but I do believe that with some training/guidance I would be able to apply these tests again. I believe I would struggle more with writing the assessment/evaluation reports and integrating the results from the several scales into a cohesive and meaningful whole.

 

[WisNeuro]

What kind of assessments would you want to do, what would be evaluating, specifically?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Something like doing pre-surg evals after some cases with supervision and CEUs could work.

 

[hum1]

What kind of assessments would you want to do, what would be evaluating, specifically?

I spoke with someone who told me to explore the market around me. I live in Massachusetts. I am interested in using the tests that I have experience with, WISC, WAIS, MMPI, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, and the Standford Binet. I believe that a lot of assessments done in Massachusetts are related with courts, but I am not sure.

Should I take some courses and then for example contact some clinics or psychologists in the area and offer help or to work with them? I just am wondering on how to take the first step. I could start doing courses and training, but then I would not be sure what instruments and tests are used in my state, and which ones are in demand.

 

[PsyDr]

You keep asking “how can I use these specific tests?”. Everyone keeps asking “for what?”. If I said I am skilled in some random psychotherapy, and asked you how to get started in a psychotherapy practice, you’d probably ask “who are you trying to treat?” “Why would a patient choose you over someone else?”, and “what benefit would you offer your prospective patients?”.

i don’t know if you’re being obtuse on purpose or not. But the answer is the same thing as above.

 

[WisNeuro]

You keep asking “how can I use these specific tests?”. Everyone keeps asking “for what?”. If I said I am skilled in some random psychotherapy, and asked you how to get started in a psychotherapy practice, you’d probably ask “who are you trying to treat?” “Why would a patient choose you over someone else?”, and “what benefit would you offer your prospective patients?”.

i don’t know if you’re being obtuse on purpose or not. But the answer is the same thing as above.

This. OP. It is not enough to know how to use those instruments. You also need to have in depth knowledge of the conditions that you are evaluating with these instruments. As in, definitely do not start evaluation of neurological conditions. You can do some real damage without a very good background in neuropathology, psychometrics, etc. So, back to this, what, specifically, do you think you want to evaluate? Like, you said evaluations are done in courts. That is still a VERY broad arena. Of which some segments require extensive background to do without putting yourself into a huge amount of liability.

 

[hum1]

The truth is I do not know why people seek psychological evaluation. I imagine it is because of legal cases, wanting to get a diagnosis, schools and education, etc.. And I would never do neuro evaluations, I would like to use the tests that I mentioned before.

Ok, so I am understanding that it is not enough to know on how to administer, score, and interpret a specific test, that all of this happens in a certain context, is this right? I though that one would get a referral like in psychotherapy, e.g. I would advertise that I do MMPI evaluations, and I would receive a referral from a client saying "I need to do a MMPI, are you available?".

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

A technician knows the tool but the mechanic knows how, when, where, & why to use which tool(s). If you want to conduct assessments, being able to administer and score the test correctly is the bare minimum for the technician role, while wholly insufficient to be the mechanic.

We often have to learn new assessments, especially if we are reviewing records and other people’s reports. The reason I suggested pre-surg evals is bc there are some good books on it, so you can read numerous sources and get comfortable with the questions you ask yourself as a clinician. Working with a supervisor can help you with the practical part of report writing, what needs to be included, etc.

 

[szymk1sm]

Examples of referral questions for psychological testing at my AMC include - is this ADHD vs. a psychiatric condition, patient thinks they may have OCD (do they?), is this patient's presentation an undiagnosed neurodevelopmental condition / learning disability?, adult ADHD or autism evaluations, pre-surgical psych eval for spinal cord stimulator or bariatric surgery, etc.

I think people are trying to get you to think about these types of referral questions (amongst others) and which types you would be competent to see based on your previous training (and then current supervision / CEs). You do not need to do those evaluations in a court setting - they can be completed at an AMC, hospital setting, or PP.

You have some tools you know how to use - but what populations do you want to apply them to and which types of questions do you want to answer?

 

[Sanman]

The truth is I do not know why people seek psychological evaluation. I imagine it is because of legal cases, wanting to get a diagnosis, schools and education, etc.. And I would never do neuro evaluations, I would like to use the tests that I mentioned before.

Ok, so I am understanding that it is not enough to know on how to administer, score, and interpret a specific test, that all of this happens in a certain context, is this right? I though that one would get a referral like in psychotherapy, e.g. I would advertise that I do MMPI evaluations, and I would receive a referral from a client saying "I need to do a MMPI, are you available?".

This is the equivalent of a physician buying an MRI machine and expecting business to appear with little expertise in how to use it. Do you go to your physician requesting an MRI? For what reason?