For your reflection this week, imagine you are working as an assistant in a behavioral health office. A patient with a suspected substance use disorder presents for treatment.

This week’s lecture covered various assessment tools and levels of treatment for working with individuals with substance use disorder and co-occurring mental health disorders. For your reflection this week, imagine you are working as an assistant in a behavioral health office. A patient with a suspected substance use disorder presents for treatment. Given what you have learned from lecture, provided videos, and supplemental readings from your instructor, answer the following questions/prompts:

Identify the skills and communication strategies you believe it is necessary for a clinician to show in conducting an assessment interview. Explain how you would ensure you are making use of these skills and strategies in your own assessment interviews.

Select the questions and/or scales you would use in your assessment of the patient. Why would you use these specific questions or scales?

Detail how you might respond if a client presented as guarded, hesitant, intoxicated and/or unwilling to respond to assessment questions.

Finally, justify how you would make sure you are selecting the proper treatment option for your client.