Violence or Psychosexual Risk Assessments

What are the benefits of these types of Risk Assessments?

While no assessment can definitively predict future violence or inappropriate sexual behavior, a risk assessment uses techniques to determine a level of risk, such as structured interviews with the child and parents, review of background information and school records, completion of behavior rating scales by the child, parent and teachers/providers, and personality testing to determine the presence and severity of risk factors, as well as mitigating variables. A risk assessment can assist with developing strategies and interventions to help the child remain safe and be successful, as well as to help identify needed supports and services.

A Risk Assessment will include:

•  A structured clinical interview with the parent and the child
•  Behavior rating scales completed by the parent, child, and teacher or counselor
•  Personality testing 
•  Cognitive or adaptive assessment may also be requested depending upon the referral questions
•  Review of relevant background information, previous evaluations and school records
•  Review of information provided by other mental health service providers. 

What should you expect from your appointment?

Clinical Interviews and face to face testing can last from one to four hours.  Evaluations can be broken into multiple sessions to accommodate the needs of the child and the family.  Because parents will need to meet with the psychologist without the child present, they may need to bring a responsible person to monitor the child while they are meeting with the psychologist or may wish to schedule an additional appointment to complete that portion of the assessment at a different time. 

In addition to the written report, the Risk Assessment also includes a meeting with the parents to review results, as well as participation by phone in a PPT meeting to review findings.