Where to Start and What to Ask: An Assessment Handbook

This work is very instructive and useful for the intern as well as a good review for the practicing clinician. The author presents the myriad issues that face a newcomer to the field in a clear, concise, and well thought out manner, offering numerous helpful tools along the way. Having been a practicing Licensed Addiction Counselor for the past 12-years, who's primary clientele are adult males, I found this book offered insights into the broader aspects of this field, areas that I have not worked in, and by doing so, provided insights and an appreciation of the breadth and scope of clinical work beyond my own experience that I found refreshing and instructive. I heartily recommend this book.

Even though I have just read the intro and first chapter, I have already gotten more than my money's worth from this text. The author starts with an acknowledgment of the anxiety that is common at my stage in beginning my new counseling career and offers information to dispel the tremendous anxiety that I was experiencing as I embark on the first day of my fieldwork internship. High praise for this personally transformative information!

This book is extremely helpful for school social workers regarding learning how to write detailed and helpful social reports. All newschool clinicians can learn from this book. It gives you very extensive questions that are useful to ask when completing social assessments.For those clinicians that have to interview parents and children this book has great advice on interviewing that techniques and things to consider. Just the interview questions for different scenarios are a prize. Very well written and something you can refer to year after year. Highly recommended.

This book is a quick read that clearly outlines exactly what the title says, where to start and what to ask. Questions to assess for suicidality, homicidality and abuse are provided. Intake interviews and the specific nuances involved are written about as well as a comprehensive set of questions to ask during an intake interview. There is a set of developmental and medical questions that really help to cover all the milestones. Some of the questions are quite detailed, but you can easily pick and choose what you want to utilize or leave out. I used many of the questions when developing my own intake interview questionnaire. Working with children, adults, couples and families are addressed as well as questions to ask during an initial intake interview for them. Pitfalls to look out for are given. This is a highly applicable book for those in the mental health or social work field.

Great book, not just for the new counselor either. I have been counseling for several years and have still found this book a great reference, especially if you are just used to working with one population (adults) of clients but on occasion get a population that your are not as comfortable with (children,families ect). I would recommend to both new and more experienced counselor. Its basic but sometimes when one has been counseling for a while we get stuck in our ways and it is nice to go back to basics

I am excited to start reading this book for my MSW program! It looks very informative for beginners!

This was a required text for a counseling residency program. Unfortunately, we were notified rather late as to this text being required reading. What a help it would have been to have this compassionate, wise and humane guide prior to seeing clients! I have used Morrison's "The First Interview" as a standard; Lukas successfully takes the clinical content and weaves a cogent, structured and narrative means of addressing the first interview without the clinical edge inherent in Morrison. Lukas also includes sections on children and couples. This is a wonderful resource for those entering the counseling profession.

This book is great. It's short, and to the point. No boring rambling on and on for pages and pages. It tells you what you need to know and in a really easy to understand way. This is the first book I've wanted to keep for reference once I graduate and move into working in the field. I would highly recommend this book. I also find that this book is very true to what I've learned from working in the social work field doing assessments. This is a very informative and enjoyable book.

Item arrived quickly. Provides a good basic overview to help you learn but doesn't get too technical. Other sources would be better suited for providing technical interviewing guidelines once you're orientated to this book.

came in excellent condition and exactly as described.