Assessing Children in the Community

This book illuminates the process of child psychological assessment in community psychology through discussion, theory, and case studies of collaborative, systemic treatment of children and their parents. "Assessing Children in the Urban Community" presents a semi-structured form of collaborative psychological assessment, designed to help clients gain new insights and make changes in their lives. Traditional psychological assessment focuses on diagnosis and treatment but has been slow to include contextual elements, particularly social and cultural contexts into the assessment process and psychological report.

Clients receiving services in a community psychology clinic pay for their treatment through state welfare coverage. They cannot choose their providers, they cannot always determine the length and course of their mental health care, they often do not have access to transportation to begin services, to continue them, or to take advantage of follow-up recommendations. The Therapeutic Assessment model is particularly adaptable to community psychology because it allows maximum interaction in the assessment process and promotes participation and collaboration in an often dis-empowering system.

This book will be relevant to clinical psychologists, community psychologists, social workers, family therapists, graduate students in psychology, social work, marriage and family therapists, and counseling programs.

Barbara L. Mercer, PhD, has been the Assessment Program Director and a clinical supervisor at WestCoast Children’s Clinic, a community psychology clinic in Oakland, California since 1986. She has worked in community mental health throughout her career. Dr. Mercer has also been on the faculty of California School of Professional Psychology and the Wright Institute in the San Francisco Bay Area where she taught psychological assessment and child therapy, and chaired a number of dissertations at both schools. Dr. Mercer has presented at the Society for Personality Assessment and published in the Journal for Personality Assessment.

Tricia Fong, PhD, is a clinical child psychologist who specializes in complex trauma, trauma-informed care, and early childhood mental health. She is a clinical supervisor at WestCoast Children's Clinic where she previously worked as both an assessment psychologist and a clinical psychotherapist. Dr. Fong is also a psychologist for the Partners for Safe and Healthy Children/Prenatal to Three Initiative with Behavioral Health and Recovery Services in San Mateo County.

Erin Rosenblatt, PsyD. Dr. Rosenblatt’s clinical experiences have included work with children, adolescents and adults in community settings.After five years of delivering psychotherapy and psychological assessments, Dr. Erin Rosenblatt transitioned to the role of Director of Training at WestCoast, where she manages a comprehensive clinical training program for psychotherapist, marriage and family therapists, social worker therapists, and their supervisors. In addition to her work at WestCoast Children's clinic, Dr. Rosenblatt has taught and presented on the topic of Personality Assessment. She is co-author of a monograph "Research to Action" which explores the needs and strengths of sexually exploited youth.