Counsellors: Mental Measurement & Ethical Standards for Mental Health Exams

Mental measurements by counsellors should align with the guidelines and standards of ethics. One's beliefs and feelings are usually crucial while assessing a patient's mental health since they help a mental health practitioner to be a good evaluator. Since one can connect with the other more easily if they are sharing emotional connection and reactions, it is easier to understand the person you are working with from the start. Objectivity is critical while conducting a mental health examination.

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History of Assessment in Counselling

Assessment in counseling requires the counselor to have prior knowledge of the mental health problems that one may face as a result of different conditions they may face. While conducting a mental status examination, it is difficult to remain objective and emotionally neutral. It is subjective to the fact that these mental health examiners are usually observers and participants while conducting mental health examinations (Hinkley, 2018). It is impossible to evaluate a patient objectively, evaluate them while one has disconnected themselves from the situation.

Review of the Selected Assessment

ACA Code of ethical standard, C.2, is a standard that helps in the understanding of the introductory session to the body session. Counselors of Boundaries of Competence should always be able to identify their roles and ensuring that they do not go overboard on what they are proficient or educated to do and also their experiences (American Counseling Association 2014). According to the ACA Code of Ethics (2014), it is evident that counselors are required to have knowledge, skills, personal awareness, and sensitivity to be competent in diverse clients. Before a mental status examination is conducted, counselors apply various skills that would maintain the cultural appropriateness are required and that the behavior needs to be expounded for further understanding.

Theoretical Basis for the Assessment Tool

A counselor should acknowledge and recognize any idea that they have about any population based on their ethnicity or color so they can work progressively with their clients. It ensures that all individuals with different backgrounds receive the quality help they deserve. Counseling organizations should also have strategies that are appropriate for cultural intervention (Kaplan et al., 2017). A counselor can respect their client's religious views, languages, and beliefs. They should be keen to maintain knowledge that would impact the client's family dynamics, among other related issues such as their family hierarchy. For the counselor to expand their skills, they must acknowledge their cultural heritage and the effects of racism and discrimination. Counsellors should also look for other learning opportunities to improve their understanding of different cultural practices for diverse communities.

Ethical Considerations

There is a range of factors that affect mental health include sexuality, race, gender identity, and social, economic conditions. To educate people and eliminate racial injustices, the following should be considered. All programs must be analyzed to ensure accuracy and completeness; all content areas must be presented with multiple cultural perspectives (Dillon et al., 2016). Multiculturalism should be taught as a separate subject in counselor training to allow them to learn about different cultures from a diverse population.

There are various ways in which a mental health professional needs to consider before starting a mental health session. One, the mental health profession should be able to engage their scientific mindedness to be able to identify every single symptom of the client. Second, acquiring more information about the client's condition other than the provided one. Another crucial point is how a client is treated from the first day and also the setting of the office. They should be welcomed calmly to ease their anxiety. On the other hand, the office should be calm, gently lit, and clean to create a pleasant environment.

Appropriateness of the Assessment Tool

All assessments and mental status examinations are prone to errors if not well conducted with much objectivity. ACA assessment tool is ideal for examining patients with mental health problems. Hence, one is required to ensure that their emotions or beliefs do not interfere with the tests. If an examiner lacks sensitivity and knowledge on diversity, they might end up connecting with the patient's mental status (Berrouiguet et al., 2018). The aim of conducting these assessments is so that the client's case can be clearly expressed with an explanation for the issues presented, thus providing an overview of the whole mental status situation. According to the ACA guidelines, in the initial interviews conducted, mental health professionals are required to be objective and very sensitive since people are different.

Discussion of why to use the Assessment Tool

Mental health examiners do use clinical assessments and interviews on their new patients so that they can gather sufficient information about these patients. The assessment tool, in turn, helps in the diagnosis of the patient's mental health accurately. These clinical assessments and interviews conducted to patients are usually facilitated by the Mental health professionals who can identify a unique way of approaching each patient depending on their specific issues.

In conclusion, counsellor should summarize their findings concerning their patients for documentation purposes as per the guidelines of ACA assessment tool. These reports are then used in checking a patient's progress each time and the effectiveness of medications administered to them. Evaluating an individual's mental health can be exciting and proud.

References

American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA Code of Ethics. Alexandria, VA: Counseling.org

Berrouiguet, S., Perez-Rodriguez, M. M., Larsen, M., Baca-Garcia, E., Courtet, P., & Oquendo, M. (2018). From eHealth to iHealth: transition to participatory and personalized medicine in mental health. Journal of medical Internet research, 20(1), e2. https://www.jmir.org/2018/1/e2/Dillon, F. R., Odera, L., Fons-Scheyd, A., Sheu, H. B., Ebersole, R. C., & Spanierman, L. B. (2016). A dyadic study of multicultural counseling competence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(1), 57. . Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Dillon4/publication/282760419_A_Dyadic_Study_of_Multicultural_Counseling_Competence/links/59d414fc4585150177f974d1/A-Dyadic-Study-of-Multicultural-Counseling-Competence.pdf

Hinkley, P. (2018). Ethical Dilemmas? Are you appropriately following the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics?. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1179&context=ccfs_fac_pubsKaplan, D. M., Francis, P. C., Hermann, M. A., Baca, J. V., Goodnough, G. E., Hodges, S., ... & Wade, M. E. (2017). New concepts in the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics. Journal of Counseling & Development, 95(1), 110-120. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/New_Concepts_in_the_2014_ACA_Code_of_Ethics.pdf?sfvrsn=4