In most cases, mental health disorders begin from childhood and persist throughout the adulthood stage of an individual. Adolescents are the most affected groups of people. It is estimated that over 25% of children suffer from mental health disorders either diagnosed or not (Whitcomb, 2013). Predominantly, depression is the primary cause if not the symptom of such mental health disorders. Such alarming rates of mental health disorders in adolescents calls for practical skills and strategies for assessment and intervention. One of the skills I would use is evaluating the mother-infant relationship to improve the patient's social support through managing the stress-related adverse psychological problems. In this case, the intensive family support of teen mothers for their adolescent children is bound to yield positive results regarding their mental welfare (Barry et al., 2013). The other skills would be the provision of mental health screenings which are aimed at determining the prevalence of high-risk behaviors such as substance abuse. Considering the transition from childhood to adulthood is somewhat abrupt, the children could be subjected to social pressures hence the need to reinforce resilience and self-esteem.
Furthermore, I would be keen on assessing the severity of both depression and suicidal risk for the client. This is through determining the range of symptoms and their frequency as well as the condition's interference with daily life. Besides, I would lead by example through conducting reflective practices as well as supporting a quality culture for my client to refer to and adapt to positive mental health. The other skill to apply would be familiarized with the national mental health strategies with the aim of localizing them for my client. Most importantly, I would focus on the practical approaches towards destigmatizing mental illness. Finally, I would also ensure that I develop effective communication strategies with my client. Such an approach would be focused on allowing the client to get comfortable and make the diagnosis and intervention process more efficient.
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Practice Skills
The practice skills used for assessment and intervention of adolescents with mental health disorders are based on the observations and effective communication approaches between the client and the health practitioner. Some of the practical skills I would apply while engaging my client are maintaining eye contact, using open and closed questions during interviews, use of body language, and active listening. In a nutshell, I would apply both verbal and non-verbal means of communication. By maintaining eye contact, I would be ensuring that the client is not evading some details that are required during the therapeutic process while guaranteeing not to stare too much since it would be intimidating of confrontational (De Los Reyes, 2015). On the other hand, I would also study the client's body language to determine the things that make him nervous, happy, comfortable, and restless among different situations with the aim of developing a steady approach towards assessment and intervention. It is through active listening that I would make my client comfortable and build trust for a fruitful therapeutic process. Finally, I would also ask both open and closed questions to establish substantial information on the probable causes of his condition as well as the active treatment measures.
Rationale
The reason behind using the skills as mentioned earlier is to develop credible information on the severity of the mental health condition for the client. On this note, such skills allow the psychologist to create a substantial relationship with the client which leads to the acquisition of crucial information concerning the mental health disorder (Volkmar et al., 2014). Through these skills, the psychologist can recommend the appropriate treatment measures while implementing them in a way that the patient will develop positive mental health.
References
Barry, M. M., Clarke, A. M., Jenkins, R., & Patel, V. (2013). A systematic review of the effectiveness of mental health promotion interventions for young people in low and middle income countries. BMC public health , 13 (1), 835.
De Los Reyes, A., Augenstein, T. M., Wang, M., Thomas, S. A., Drabick, D. A., Burgers, D. E., & Rabinowitz, J. (2015). The validity of the multi-informant approach to assessing child and adolescent mental health. Psychological Bulletin , 141 (4), 858.
Volkmar, F., Siegel, M., Woodbury-Smith, M., King, B., & McCracken, J. (2014). Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry , 53 (2), 237-257.
Whitcomb, S. A. (2013). Behavioral, social, and emotional assessment of children and adolescents . Routledge.
