ABSTRACT
Most clients walk into a therapist’s office in an effort to get rid of certain emotional distress and associated symptoms, such as anxiety and/or depression. A therapist will try to explore the root causes and flesh out a treatment plan for their resolution. Assessment begins immediately. The purpose of assessment is discovery. This is a continuous process, not once and for all. Like peeling an onion, only when the outer layers of clients’ issues are peeled off will their core be revealed. With each new discovery, therapists can adjust their interventions to address clients’ most urgent needs. To begin a proper assessment, a therapist needs at least two predominant skills:
Empathic responding skills
Assessment skills
With numerous examples, this chapter presents three basic assessment skills to help novice therapists succeed in discovering the contexts of clients’ problems
Probing questions
Focusing
Clarifying statements
