Do’s & Don’ts of Assessing Youth: How to build rapport Natalie Thomas, lisw, licdc

Assessment goal(s) To evaluate someone’s behavior To make an estimation about someone’s ability To develop a recommendation To identify needs To direct resources To determine next steps

Administering assessments Technique Experience Art

Assessment technique: Motivational Interviewing (MI) Conceived by William R. Miller, Ph.D. and Stephen Rollnick, Ph.D. in 1983 Goal oriented & client-centered communication method on engaging intrinsic motivation and resolving ambivalence Use when youth are hesitant Take non-directive approach Ask open ended questions: “tell me…” “help me understand…” “on one hand, you would really like to get your life together, on the other hand, you keep breaking rules…” Partnership, compassion, and acceptance

Trauma informed considerations Trauma history may impact youth presentation (angry, sad, irritable, poor concentration, anxiety) Assessments may be triggering for some youth Pause or discontinue assessment if youth is unable to cope with process

Assessment Do’s & Don’ts Strengths based assessments Consider trauma impact on youth presentation and response Affirm youth’s strengths Assess an intoxicated youth Leave triggered youth without follow up support Empower nonproductive behavior

Do’s & Don’ts contd. Do’s Don’ts Purposefully set a good tone Consider trauma history Check-in on youth throughout assessment Allow for youth to have a sense of control Establish rapport Assume youth understand why they are being assessed Assess intoxicated youth Use outdated information in assessments

Rapport /raˈpôr,rəˈpôr/ noun A friendly , harmonious relationship; especially; a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy

Establishing rapport Mutual Understanding Empathy Agreement Why we are here? What’s our end goal? How long should it take? What’s going to happen next? Let’s agree to get through this safely Let’s agree to get through this respectfully Let’s agree to get through this efficiently Let’s agree to get through this honestly Acknowledge their feelings & experience of the moment Offer statement of support Sometimes a self check is needed before we can offer empathy

Rapport building Do’s & Don’ts Be genuine Find something relatable music, style, food, sports Roll with resistance Do a self check before engaging youth Be aware of self, even if cant change status Listen, sincerely Engage in power struggles; you are in control Assume restlessness is equal to disinterest or non-compliance (self regulation, adolescent brain) Be afraid to move forward with imperfect rapport

Reality of Rapport building: Scrubs https://www. youtube. com/watch

Managing resistance Resistance is a likely part of the youth assessment process Resistance is often related to youth discomfort or stress Establish how to deal with assessment stress or discomfort in rapport building phase, plan for it- how should youth cue you when uncomfortable? how will you respond? Resistance should be managed in a positive, non-punitive manner Lack of interest/readiness to change often mistaken for resistance Ignore some unproductive behaviors (attitude, sly comments) Manage your own stress response to resistance

Rapport building role play 2 Brave volunteers needed!

Resources Suarez, Mariann; Naar-King, Sylvie, (2011) Motivational Interviewing with Adolescents and Young Adults, New York & London: The Guilford Press National Child Traumatic Stress Network: www.nctsn.org

Q & A’s