Gathering client information and performing initial assessments, while vital to effective treatment planning, can easily turn into a dry procedure that may adversely affect the therapeutic relationship. In this short video you’ll discover how to ask questions that can be organized into the 9 domains of a mental status exam in a way that is empathic and collaborative, building rapport and laying the foundation for a strong therapeutic bond. Learn from John and Rita Sommers-Flanagan—who literally wrote the book on clinical interviewing and assessment—how to engage clients collaboratively while gathering important information about how they are functioning in the present.
Watch clinical expert John Sommers Flanagan complete a mental status exam with Carl, a 19-year-old student struggling to adjust to his life at Trapper Creek Job Corps, and gain deeper insight into the process as the hosts break down the interviewing protocols and relational techniques being used. Their warm and compassionate dynamic infuses both their teaching and therapeutic work, and makes this seemingly “clinical” material both approachable and enjoyable.
