• Values/goal identification and management
• I’m considering a career change lately, and have discovered that I’m really not clear on my core values, on the goals that matter most to me. Could evaluation bring some clarity to this sort of thing?
• My girlfriend is worried that we might be “too different” to move ahead seriously with the relationship. Is there a way to identify important differences between us?
• Part of me wants spontaneity and adventure, and part of me likes security and predictability. Is there a way to manage conflicting values like this?

• I think I may have had ADHD as a child. How would that affect me now, as an adult?
• I started therapy recently, and I have questions about terms like Social Anxiety Disorder and Personality Disorders.
• Why do I have a hard time keeping jobs or sticking with relationships?
• My son’s doctor says he shows signs of Asperger’s syndrome, and his teachers say he has Nonverbal Learning Disability. Who’s right, and what’s the difference?
• I hear a lot about bipolar disorder. Could that explain my mood swings?
• Can information about my IQ help me with career planning?

• I had a concussion about a year ago and sometimes I still feel confused and distractable. What’s going on?
• Am I too young to be showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease? Why am I so forgetful?

• Question Formulation

The Question Directed Assessment starts with a introductory meeting focused on your specific concerns. The Assessment is not an academic or intellectual exercise, but rather is intended as a tool in your personal development – a resource in managing your energy, career, relationships, or health. Working with a psychologist specializing in assessment, you will clarify your questions, determine what you need to know now, and consider how you will use the information.

 

• Focused Assessment

The assessment phase may take several hours, and allows the psychologist to gather the information needed to answer the questions you have identified. Depending upon the nature of these questions, your assessment may focus on goals and values, personality characteristics, specific bothersome symptoms, and/or neurocognitive strengths and weaknesses in areas such as attention, memory, language, and problem solving.

 

• Feedback and Application

Feedback sessions are the heart of the Question Directed Assessment process. You will receive honest feedback about the results of the assessment, and the feedback will be organized around the original questions you formulated in the initial meeting. You will work with the psychologist to determine how you will incorporate the information into what you already know about yourself, and to consider how you will apply these findings. You will be challenged to identify specific, concrete goals relating to the questions you have answered.

 

• Follow-Up Feedback

A unique feature of Question Directed Assessment is the follow-up feedback session. Scheduled several weeks after the immediate feedback and application session, you will collaborate with the psychologist about successes and challenges you have experienced in your efforts to make use of the feedback material. Additionally, as many people have reported that assessment feedback is “a lot to take in” at one sitting, the follow-up feedback session is also an opportunity to review the assessment results. The purpose of the follow-up feedback session is to make certain you have answered your original questions and have some specific ideas for practical application of what you have learned.