The assessment procedure

Your organization will have a procedure for assessing new clients, and, most likely a uniform way of documenting it (e.g. a form).

If you are also the admitting officer you will need to notice if the case is an emergency and act immediately (e.g. circumstances that could result in serious injury or loss of life). You have a duty of care, and may also be subject to statutory requirements depending on your state/territory.

In many organizations, the person giving the admission interview will also assess the client's needs. In other cases, the assessment is done by someone else and referred to the case manager. If a range of expertise is necessary for the assessment, it may be referred to a case conference. In any case, it is best to do only one assessment if possible. Clients find multiple assessments very frustrating.

In some residential facilities, part of the assessment is done by observation after the client has been admitted.

Identify your own limitations in assessing and addressing client needs. It is quite likely that you will notice signs of problems that are outside your expertise, and even outside the expertise of your organization. If appropriate, ask for help from colleagues, senior staff and/or experts in the area. (See the ebook "Responding holistically".)

Establish rapport

  1. Establish rapport with clients. Be friendly, show respect, and be non-judgmental.
  2. Using appropriate language, explain clearly to clients:
  3. Manage risks to keep both yourself and the client safe, as required.

What kinds of help does the client need?

Check your assessment information. Ideally, you have a full range of relevant information about the client’s needs. Get another consultation from a specialist if you need it. If you have enough information, check whether it is good enough to base a treatment on. (Your organization should have a standard.) Consider also its complexity and urgency.

It is quite normal for AOD clients to be untruthful and manipulative in an interview, but this does not mean that you should discontinue them. It is more useful to evaluate their sincerity in committing to the program.

Work with the client to answer:

Then identify the full range of appropriate service and/or support options. Then identify the particular kinds of services the client needs. If they have complex needs, then they might need a range of very different kinds of services (e.g. medical, child support, legal, AOD).

Inform the client about them and give details on aspects that may be appropriate for them (e.g. when, where, how much it costs, how long it will take, how to contact them, risks).

Make your decisions about client needs and goals in conjunction with the client. You will normally need to get the clients’ agreement, and you may need to get agreement from other stakeholders as well.

Tell them about your strategy or approach, so that they know what to expect and can cooperate effectively. It will help them achieve goals and get the best result.

You will need to report on assessment results to your supervisor.

Giving referrals

Find the particular services that the client needs. They might come from within your organization or from outside.

Inform them about other services. Give them the power to identify the services they want to be referred to, and get their consent. In practice, they will need your advice and recommendation, but they need to make the final decision themselves. Tell them their rights and responsibilities. Check that they understand and give them an opportunity to ask questions.

What is the procedure for referral?

Do they need other help? (e.g. advocacy):

However, you should help clients so they don't fall between the cracks; you cannot presume that they will connect up well without you. You will need to work at both ends of the relationship to make it work. For example, if there's an appointment, you may need you to go with them for the first time, or at least tee it up and then check up to see that it went well. As for the persons/agencies to whom you refer, liaise with them and report any assessment results that they need for their role.

Evaluating assessment and referral

At at administrative level, your organization needs to evaluate the assessment and referral procedure. This should be done either routinely, or as required to ensure that services continue to be a good match to client needs. Consider the following:

  1. Review changes in circumstances, environmental factors and urgency of client needs.
  2. Collect client feedback on the adequacy of service delivery so the data can be used in revising service delivery arrangements.
  3. Routinely seek feedback from colleagues and clients on how you performed in client service.

Identifying special problems

It is quite likely that you will notice signs of problems that are outside your expertise, and even outside the expertise of your organization.

You need to identify complex cases early. In the community services sector, they are generally defined as:

Some organizations or industry standards require three or more of the above "complex" factors to be considered high risk. Other guidelines suggest that any one of them could be adequate grounds for residential care, in particular:

  1. Serious or sustained abuse
  2. Multiple difficulties in the family
  3. Chronic and serious drug addiction, especially polyaddiction (addiction to multiple substances simultaneously) and any use of needles.
  4. Risk of blood-borne diseases (e.g. use of needles)
  5. Risk of self-harm
  6. Risk of violence or sexual abuse
  7. The family has been involved with protective and custodial agencies over a long period

In children's work, complex cases can include factors such as:

You are required to make refer the matter to protective services if the matter falls within mandatory reporting laws or your organization’s policy and procedure.

Otherwise, your organization should have a policy on when to report illegal or dangerous behavior if it is not legally mandatory to do so. (Some organizations report it and some don't.)