Assessment and Diagnosis in Community Mental Health

In the CMS environment, assessing and diagnosing mental health issues needs to take into the community, the culture of the patient, and socioeconomic factors. Understanding how these play an active role in the daily life of the patient helps the therapist understand nuances and also increase awareness about access (or lack of access) to treatment resources.

You will learn to:

• Discuss the most common diagnostic tools and assessments used in clinical practice and in various community settings.

• Understand the interplay between culture, socioeconomic issues and diagnosis in the community setting, and the limits you might experience — like lack of resources.

• Explore the use of biopsychosocial approaches to assessment that take all aspects of the person into account when approaching diagnosis.

Dr. Megan Boyd, LPC and Melanie Anderson, LCSW bring their experience with community mental health and diagnosis and assessment into our panel discussion with Dr. Carla Smith, Chief Clinical Officer of Motivo.

In this course, we’ll explore some of the most common tools used to assess mental health in community mental health and the importance of taking a biopsychosocial approach so that the overall health of the patient is taken into account.

For example, certain physical health issues can look like mental health disorders and so can financial strain, family/relational issues, or transitional issues. But when these situations are addressed, the symptoms subside.

We’ll discuss what to do in situations where the culture, socioeconomic factors, or the community you operate in limit the resources available for treatment or diagnosis and how to be creative when helping your client get the care they need.